Mexican film event focuses on women's lives

By Izabel Deuff

JAKARTA (JP): The border town of Tijuana between Mexico and the United States radiates a special atmosphere: while on the American side helicopters continuously patrol, on the Mexican side people congregate while waiting for the best opportunity to cross the frontier.

Three women meet there. Serena arrives in town with her three children after her husband died; Jane comes from the U.S. to look up a friend and strives to speak Spanish without sounding like a tourist; Chicana, ashamed of being unable to speak in her parents' tongue, tries to find her identity in this Americanized Mexican area.

Actually, whether English, Spanish or pre-Conquest dialects, language is more of a barrier than the geographical frontier in Maria Novaro's movie El Jardin del Eden (The Garden of Eden) which is to be screened on Oct. 12 at the Mexican Film Week Festival.

The event is being held at Pusat Perfilman H. Usmar Ismail, Jl. HR Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, from Oct. 9 to Oct. 14 and is dedicated to women's lives.

"After organizing a photo exhibition focusing on women in their daily lives last July at Antara Photo Gallery, the Embassy of Mexico and the Mexican Institute for International Collaboration are achieving this festival to keep on improving the relationship between Indonesia and our country," said Constantino Morales, the cultural attach at the Mexican Embassy.

Six films are to be screened in their original version with English subtitles each day at 8 p.m., except on Oct. 9 when Danzon ("the most famous of the six", according to Constantino) is screened at 7:30 p.m.

Like in El Jardin del Eden directed three years after Danzon (1991), Maria Novaro again pictures a town: Veracruz and women who are embodied by Julia. She is a long distance telephone operator whose hobby is ballroom dancing. Every Wednesday for six years, she goes to the Colonia Dance Hall to meet Carmelo, an excellent dancer of Danzon. This dance comes from 19th century Haiti as an interlude for French cotillion. One day Carmelo disappears. To find him, Julia decides to leave Mexico for Veracruz, to where he fled.

Moving from the capital to the coastal town, Julia feels herself less nervous and more aware of her own desires and sexuality. To express this change throughout the film, images picturing Julia's feelings and her discoveries as a woman are joined by the Mexican popular dance music.

Maria Novaro's movie has been awarded several prizes, among which are the Directors Fortnight's at the Cannes Festival in 1992 and the Bronze Hand of the Best Film at the New York Latin Festival. It is one of the few Mexican films which has succeeded in competing with Hollywood productions.

In the 1980s, Mexican production was up to 80 films whereas in 1993, it shrunk to 47 movies. In 1994, Hollywood still dominated the market by producing 57 percent of films screened in Mexico and since then, Constantino acknowledges that production has slowed down because of the country's economic crisis.

Nevertheless, Mexican films have long been recognized since 1897 when Salvador Toscano Barrangan recorded images with a Lumires Brothers' movie camera. Most, such as Danzon, are produced by the Mexican Film Institute. This institute also supports independent producers who have promoted five films in the Mexican Film Week Festival.

For instance, Dulce Kuri is an independent producer for Un ao perdido (A lost year) directed by Gerardo Lara. The main roles, like in the former movies, were assigned to women. Set in 1976, two provincial girls meet at a Toluca high school. Mathild would like to become a dentist while Yolanda wants to become a rock singer. Both defy paternal authority and society which dictate they become housewives. The two women experience their first sexual desires and later they acquire self-confidence and maturity by exploring drugs and gaining knowledge about politics.

In 1992, Busi Cortes also told the story of two provincial women and their love lives in Serpientes and Escaleras. In the Mexico of the 1950s, Valentina and Rebecca, who are both from well-off families, look for love. The first scene pictures the traditional game of snakes and ladders of fate and destiny. As in the game, they go forward or backward depending on their fate, finding love sometimes or losing it.

A comedy, Cilantro y perejil (Recipes to Stay Together), brings a lighter touch to the festival. It deals with couples wondering whether they should stay together or not. For a school talk, Nora films the separation of Susana, her older sister, from Carlos while Nora is trying to save her relationship with Jorge, a young musician. At the same time, Adela, Nora's grandmother finds love.

This film could be the best representative of the festival which "shows how Mexican women handle daily life and what are their social and economic roles in the society", explained Constantino.

Directed by Eva Lopez Sanchez, Dama de Noche (Lady by Night) is about a woman who has to get rid of the corpse of her lover. She is helped by her best friend, Bruno, whose price for his assistance will be his own bad luck.

Jakarta moviegoers may obtain free tickets for the Mexico Week Film Festival at the Mexican Embassy, Mulia Tower, suite 2306 on Jl. Gatot Subroto Kav. 9-11, Central Jakarta.