GAVALDON: OUT OF THE DARKNESS
The early 21st Century could be considered a Golden Age for Mexican directors, as the multiple Oscar-winning films of Iñárritu, Cuarón, and Del Toro can attest. But perhaps Mexico’s first great auteur was Roberto Gavaldón, a director so famous in his native country that eight of his movies were featured in a recent list of the 100 Greatest Films from Mexico (along with his being nominated for an Oscar and Palme d’Or). All with good reason: his unforgettable classics boast incredible camerawork, mix relentless melodrama with the unbearable tension of noir, and feature consistently surprising characters peopled by stunning actors. Rarely screened in America (we presented his brilliant La Otra last December), The Heights is proud to present Minnesota’s first retrospective of this master’s greatest films. Do not miss these ultra-rare screenings.
EN LA PALMA DE TU MANO (IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND)
June 1, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
Professor Karin (Arturo de Cordova) is a scam artist, luring impressionable women to his fortune telling parlor, and, later, blackmailing them with the secrets they so eagerly revealed. But the Professor takes his con a bit too far, as a vindictive widow (Leticia Palma) seeks an ultimate revenge. A massive hit, "In the Palm of Your Hand" was nominated for 11 Ariel Awards (Mexico's highest cinematic honor) and won 8, including Best Picture, Director and Actor.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
This screening made possible through Fundacion Televisa and Filmoteca UNAM.
LA DIOSA ARRODILLADA (THE KNEELING GODDESS)
June 8, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
Antonio is an aristocrat (Arturo de Cordova), utterly dissatisfied in his marriage to Elena (Rosario Granados). He falls hard for Raquel (Maria Felix), a woman of remarkable beauty, but she rejects his advances. Attempting to try and resurrect his marriage, he gifts his wife a statue of "The Kneeling Goddess", and then is driven to near madness when he discovers the artist used a very nude Raquel as his model. In no time, Elena has died under mysterious circumstances and Antonio and Raquel are plunged into an obsessive, and deadly, relationship. An almost uncategorizable admixture of noir, melodrama and surrealist fever dream, "The Kneeling Goddess" is a film unlike anything you've ever seen.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
This screening made possible through Fundacion Televisa and Filmoteca UNAM.
LA NOCHE AVANZA (NIGHT FALLS)
June 15, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
Marcos (Pedro Armendariz) is an arrogant, yet brilliant pelota (jai alai) player, admired throughout Mexico for his skill both on and off the court. An unconscionable ladies man, he'll lie, cheat and steal his way through the hearts of any attractive woman who crosses his path. But when he promises marriage and then abandons Rebecca (Rebeca Iturbide), who happens to be pregnant, his conceit proves to be his undoing, and his downfall is as twisted as it is satisfying.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
This screening made possible through Fundacion Televisa and Filmoteca UNAM.
DIAS DE OTONO (AUTUMN DAYS)
June 22, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
Luisa (Pina Pellicer) is a small-town girl who has big dreams. Working at a pastry shop owned by a widower who secretly loves her, she instead agrees to marry a chauffeur from a wealthy home, and her future seems assured. But when he abandons her on their wedding day, Luisa concocts an entire new life for herself, which includes a husband, a child, a home - and utter despair. One of Gavaldon's most heartbreaking films, "Autumn Days" ranks with the finest melodramas of Sirk and Fassbender.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
This screening made possible through Fundacion Televisa and Filmoteca UNAM.
