Mexican Movies

Film Production in Mexico

Mexico has an important history in film production. The industry began to take hold during the era of Silent Films when the Mexican Revolution took place (1910-1917). Mexican director Salvador Toscano Barragan shot scenes of many of the battles of the Revolution, but it wasn’t until Mexico entered its “Golden Age” of cinema, which lasted from 1935 to 1959, that Mexican filmmakers really began to shine.

During the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, there was a upwelling of internationally noteworthy Mexican actors, actresses and directors, and Mexican films were distributed throughout all of Latin America. Film production studios (The Estudios Churubusco, inaugurated 1945) were erected in Mexico City and other necessary infrastructure was put into place to deal with the industry’s needs. Important icons of this period were Cantinflas (Mario Moreno), a comic actor who has won the hearts of Mexican and international audiences from that time forward and came to be known as the “Mexican Charlie Chaplin” (see El Padrecito/Su Excelencia/El Analfabeto/El Bolero De Raquel); the dramatic countenances and acting abilities of Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armendariz, both of whom were directed by Emilio “el Indio” Fernandez, who brought them to the screen in movies such as Flor Silvestre (1943) and María Candelaria (1944) ; actress Maria Felix, who starred in a total of nearly 50 productions; and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, who worked his magic on well over 200 films during his long cinematic career.

Names of note in Mexico’s film industry since the Golden Age

Alfonso Arau – Actor, director, writer, producer. See films: A Walk in the Clouds (1995), Como Agua para Chocolate (1992)

Alfonso Cuaron – Writer, producer and director; See films: Y tu mamá también (2001) – Oscar nominee for Best Writing and Original Screenplay

Guillermo del Toro – Mexican-born director, writer. See films: Blade II (2002), El Espinazo del diablo (2001), Mimic (1997), Cronos (1993)

Salma Hayek – Award winning actress who has starred in Frida (2002) as well as a number of other well-known productions. Also see: Desperado (1995), Time of the Butterflies (2001), El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba (1999)

Alejandro González Iñárritu – Director; See films Amores Perros (2000), Babel(2006) – Academy Award nominee for Best Director

Arturo Ripstein – Director, writer, producer, actor. See films: El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba (1999)

Gael Garcia Bernal – After a young start in Mexican soap-operas, this member of Mexico’s new generation of actors has gone on to portray compelling characters in recent movies which include Amores Perros (2000), Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001), and El crimen del Padre Amaro (2002).

Recent movies Filmed in Mexico

Many movies have been produced and filmed in Mexico and on ingenious Mexican sets, even though in many instances the moviegoer would never know it. The country boasts of a very experienced group of movie production technicians and services, and given the lower costs and great scope of location possibilities ranging from arid deserts to tropical shores, from snow-capped volcanoes to steamy jungles, Mexico has often been disguised as many other countries besides just its Central and South American neighbors.

Here is a short list of some of the films shot  in Mexico by both talented Mexican and foreign directors. Some storylines are supposed to be situated in Mexico; others depict other Latin American countries and still others represent totally foreign countries or scenes that one would never identify with this country but which, due to Mexico’s great variety of landscapes and possibilities, have actually been wholly or partially filmed here.

The Night of the Iguana (Dir. John Huston), Old Gringo (Luis Puenzo) , The Missing (Full Screen Edition) (Costa-Gavras), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Robert Rodriguez), Salvador (Special Edition) (Oliver Stone), Dune (Widescreen) (David Lynch), The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges), Licence to Kill (John Glen), Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven), Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

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Originally posted 2009-07-24 17:39:38.