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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2005 
New Generation Brings New Life to "Dying" Industry
 Diego Cevallos
 Mexico City - Mexico is becoming a major presence in the movie industry worldwide thanks to a new generation of successful young actors,directors and cinematographers, practising their craft both at home and abroad.
Thanks to the impact made by these new talents, a growing number of foreign production companies are seeking out Mexicans for their casts and crews and filming on location in Mexico, movie critic Rey Ojeda told IPS. Newcomers like Diego Luna, 25, and Gael García Bernal, 26, who first came to international attention as the stars of Y Tu Mamá También, released in 2002,have become two of the most sought-after young actors in the United States, Spain and elsewhere.
García Bernal appeared in two of 2004's most talked about movies: Walter Salles' Motorcycle Diaries, in which he plays Latin American revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, and legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's latest offering, Bad Education. The director of Y Tu Mamá También, 43-year-old Alfonso Cuarón, entered the Hollywood major leagues in 2004 as the director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the latest entry in a series of wildly popular movies based on the best-selling children's books.
In the meantime, for his 2004 epic Alexander, celebrated U.S. director Oliver Stone called on Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto. Prieto, 39, was also the cinematographer for the 2003 Hollywood production 21 Grams, starring the award-winning actors Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro and directed by yet another young Mexican, 41-year-old Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Fellow Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, 40, has also worked on a long list of hit Hollywood films, earning two Oscar nominations along the way, for 1995's A Little Princess and 1999's Sleepy Hollow. Xavier Pérez Grobet is another 40-year-old Mexican cinematographer making a name for himself in the U.S. film industry, as well as working on such major television productions as the movie adaptation of John Grisham's best-selling novel A Painted House.
Director Guillermo de Toro, also 40, is one more Mexican with a growing Hollywood resume, including the horror flicks Hellboy, Blade II and The Devil's Backbone. "Without a doubt, the Mexican movie industry has gained new ground in recent years thanks to the role played by a new generation of actors and directors," said Ojeda. A decade ago, the industry was plunged into crisis, due to a lack of funding. The situation became so severe as to lead some critics to announce its "death" in the mid-1990s.
But the persistent efforts of Mexican filmmakers soon began to pay off with awards at international festivals and growing audiences at home, bringing millions in box office earnings. Their success attracted the interest of foreign producers, which translated into money for new projects that have served as springboards for a fresh crop of Mexican actors and directors. Ojeda believes that this new generation of filmmakers has benefited the Mexican film industry in two major ways: by leading to a growing number of invitations to participate in international festivals, and by earning a greater audience for Mexican films at home. Last year, a total of 565 Mexican movies were shown at close to 200 film festivals around the world.
"Film festivals serve as an international showcase for Mexican cinema, which is highly appreciated worldwide," said Guadalupe Ferrer, director of cultural promotion at the state-run Mexican Film Institute (IMC). To help raise the profile of the local film industry, the Mexican cultural authorities organised a travelling film festival that kicked off with screenings in New York last November and will continue along stops throughout the United States and Europe until this September. Last year, 17 new Mexican movies were released. Six of them, made with IMC funding, attracted a combined audience of 4.7 million people, while the other 11, produced by domestic and foreign private companies, drew 2.9 million viewers. The total of just under eight million viewers fell far short of the 14.7 million Mexicans who went to the theatres to see local productions in 2002,a record year in this regard.
The two biggest box office hits among last year's new releases were A Day Without a Mexican, from director Sergio Arau, which took in 5.8 million dollars, and Alejandro Lozano's Matando Cabos, with a take of 5.4 million. Despite the remarkable recovery made since the Mexican film industry was pronounced "dead" just a decade ago, the country's filmmakers say they still suffer from insufficient state funding, which totalled around 18 million dollars last year. As a result, local films simply cannot compete with the big budget Hollywood movies that draw the largest numbers of Mexican moviegoers, over 80 million last year alone. |
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