Mexico Today Showcase

Acollection of Mexican films about coming-of-age, youthful exuberance, the importance of preserving our languages, the dangers of embarking on unexpected journeys, and following our dreams.

LA CAJA

Dir. Lorenzo Vigas (Mexico / USA, 90 min., 2021, Spanish w/ English Subtitles, Drama) 3/13 / 7:00 / S8 3/16 / 8:50 / S5

Hatzin, a young teenager from Mexico City, travels to collect the remains of his father, which have been found in a communal grave amidst the huge skies and empty landscape of Northern Mexico. But a casual encounter with a man who shares a physical resemblance with his father fills him with doubts and hope about his parent’s true whereabouts. Starring Hernán Mendoza and directed by Golden Lion winning director, Lorenzo Vigas. Mexico

Today Showcase.

NO VAYAS A CLASE MAÑANA

Dir. Diego Barragan (Mexico, 84 min., 2020, Spanish w/ English Subtitles, Drama / Coming-of-age) 3/13 / 7:40 / S6 3/17 / 6:45 / S7

Available virtually 3/19

One afternoon Jorge and Emilio, two 15-year-olds, decide to take a stand after being pushed to their limit. Over the course of an unforgettable night, they arrange all the details to fulfill their plot for a massacre in their school the next day, all while dealing with the emotional weight of growing up. Mexico Today Showcase.

OLIVERIO Y LA PISCINA

Dir. Arcadi Palerm-Artis (Mexico, 102 min., 2021, Spanish w/ English Subtitles, Coming-of-Age) 3/16 / 6:50 / S7 3/20 / 1:30 / S7

Available virtually 3/10

Oliverio sets the urn that contains his father’s ashes on the table next to the poolside chaise lounge. He grabs his phone and types in a word: aneurysm. Oliverio’s father died during a family dinner, just after his parents announced that they were getting divorced. His mother already had a new man in her life. Oliverio, a 13-year-old only child, installs himself on the chaise lounge and decides that he will stay right there. From that very spot he continues his life – mourning, observing, learning to forgive, and falling in love. Mexico Today Showcase.

PALABRAS VERDADERAS

Dir. Denisse Quintero (Mexico, 73 min., 2020, Spanish, Zoque Ayapaneco w/ English Subtitles,

Documentary) 3/11 / 4:15 / S5 3/20 / 1:50 / S6

Available virtually 3/15

Through the testimonies of various elderly locals, Palabras Verdaderas builds a collective memory of Ayapa, creating an oral history of what has marked them as a community, from its origin, to its processes of abandonment and subsequent efforts to recover their native language, the true word: Numdi oode. Mexico Today Showcase.

SKA´YAA (STRENGTH)

Dir. Jorge Díaz Sánchez (Mexico, 88 min., 2021, Spanish, Triqui w/ English Subtitles, Sports

Documentary) 3/17 / 6:10 / S5 3/20 / 1:30 / S5

Available virtually 3/11

Sergio Zúñiga is an idealist who has created a project for indigenous children so they can realize their dreams through basketball. For years, the Indigenous Academy of Mexico has allowed children to recognize that studying and sports are tools that can be used to break cycles of poverty. Bernabé, Tobías and Aniceto are a central part of this effort. They continue to fight on the court to show that what they lack in size, they make up for in mental stamina. Mexico Today Showcase.