CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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Film: Llévame en tus brazos with Víctimas del pecado
July 3 @ 8:00 pm - 11:15 pm
$7 – $12
Introduction by Gabriel Figueroa Flores, photographer and son of cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa.
Llévame en tus brazos (Take Me in Your Arms)
Lensed by the renowned Gabriel Figueroa, the magnetic Ninón Sevilla (1921–2015)—who also produced, uncredited, alongside brothers Guillermo Calderón and Pedro Calderón—stars as Rita, a young woman in Veracruz who lives for her family and her true love, José (Armando Silvestre). When Rita’s father trades her “services” to the wealthy Don Gregorio (Carlos López Moctezuma) to forgive his gambling debts, José is reluctant to forgive her transgressions. Featuring elaborately staged song-and-dance numbers that showcase Sevilla’s numerous talents, director and co-writer Julio Bracho’s sweeping melodrama favors Rita’s longing above all, allowing Sevilla’s charisma and magnetism to empathetically carry us through the film’s well-earned finale.
DIRECTED BY: Julio Bracho. WRITTEN BY: Julio Bracho, José Carbo. WITH: Ninón Sevilla, Carlos López Moctezuma, Armando Silvestre, Andrea Palma. 1954. 92 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish. DCP. Restoration by Permanencia Voluntaria and Cinema Preservation Alliance with the generous support of the Academy Film Archive, Paso del Norte Community Foundation, and FOCINE.
Víctimas del pecado (Victims of Sin)
Cuban-born Ninón Sevilla lights up the screen in another Emilio “El Indio” Fernández collaboration with venerated director of photography Gabriel Figueroa in her immediate follow-up to Alberto Gout’s rumbera masterpiece, Aventurera (1950). Sevilla stars as dancer and sex worker Violeta, who rescues an abandoned infant and is determined to fiercely protect the child from its father, a pimp with connections to Violeta’s nightclub. A gritty film noir made grimier by Figueroa’s lurking shots of nighttime Mexico City, Sevilla’s zealous performance contradicts the curse of the film’s title, her gravitas morphing Violeta into an unlikely, nuanced hero.
DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Emilio Fernández. WITH: Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Rodolfo Acosta, Rita Montaner. 1951. 90 min. Mexico. B&W. Spanish, French. DCP. Courtesy of Filmoteca de la UNAM.
