Heber Springs

Posters from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, 1936-1956

The popularity of Mexican cinema in Latin America from the 1930s to the 1950s was second only to Hollywood. Legendary figures such as Dolores del Rio, Maria Félix, Pedro Infante, Tito Guizar, and Cantinflas emerged as idols in movies like LAS ABANDONADAS, PEPE EL TORO, ALLÁ EN EL RANCHO GRANDE, and ÁGUILA O SOL. A recent book, Cine Mexicano: Posters from the Golden Age 1936-1956 by Rogelio Agrasánchez, Jr., chronicles the rise and fall of Mexican film during the Golden Age and examines the important role that these posters played in Mexico's rich cinematic and artistic past. This exhibit of 10 original posters and 6 lobby cards from the Golden Age provides a rare opportunity to experience the beauty, creativity, and exuberance that characterized this all-too-fleeting visual art representation of an important period in Mexican film history.

Posters from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, 1936-1956 was developed with assistance from Rogelio Agrasanchez, Jr., director and curator of the Agrasanchez Film Archive. The 840 Cine de Oro posters that survive in the Agrasanchez archive represent a sizeable record--about 55 percent--of the posters produced for Mexican films during the twenty year classical period.

The exhibit will be available for viewing in Heber Springs at Trademark Designs, 222 West Main Street, from March 24 through March 30. Call the gallery at 501-887-9500 for hours of operation.

OPENING RECEPTION FOR "POSTERS FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF MEXICAN CINEMA, 1936-1956"

Friday, March 24, 4:30-5:30 PM

Trademark Designs, 222 West Main Street, Heber Springs

F R E E

Chicana artist Carmen Lomas Garza talks about her "Homenaje a Tenochtitlan" (Homage to Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital and current site of Mexico City) as it is being created for the Smith College Art Museum for the 1992 quincentenary of Columbus's voyage to America.

Directed by Herbert Kline; produced by Gertrude Ross Marks and Edmund F. Penney. (1971, 75 min.)

Narrated by Ricardo Montalban, this digitally re-mastered classic is the story of Mexico's "Los Tres Grandes" - The Three Great Ones: Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, whose murals today remain an integral part of the contemporary life and culture of Mexico. Told as Siqueiros was completing his monumental mural, "The March of Humanity," the documentary weaves the biographies of the three while dynamically dramatizing the powerful influences the Mexican Revolution for Independence had on their lives and their art.

Golden Globe for Outstanding Documentary 1972; Academy Award nominee Best Documentary Feature 1973.

Directed by Ricardo Braojos; produced by Eugene Rodriguez; with Julian Gonzalez and Los Cenzontles. (2004; 57 min., Bilingual with Spanish and English subtitles)

An authentic and uplifting story that follows a group of young inner-city Mexican-American musicians to Mexico where they seek a deeper meaning of its traditions. Accompanying their teacher, Mariachi master Julian Gonzalez, on his homecoming to his pueblo in Jalisco, the group meets fascinating characters that embody the spirit of old Mexico. PASAJERO is a heartfelt reminder of the vital role that music plays in defining our identities.

"PASAJERO successfully combines music with storytelling, creating a tale of a forgotten Mexican tradition told by the folks who lived it and the young people struggling to reclaim their heritage." --Les Blank

PRODUCER EUGENE RODRIGUEZ AND MARIACHI MASTER JULIAN GONZALEZ WILL ATTEND THE SCREENING & DISCUSS THE FILM

Directed by Les Blank; produced by Chris Strachwitz; with Lydia Mendoza, Flaco Jiménez, Narciso Martinez, Don Santiago Jiménez, and others. (1976, 58 min., Bilingual)

A complex, insightful look at the Chicano experience as mirrored in the lives and music of the most acclaimed Norteño musicians of the Texas-Mexican border, including Flaco Jimenez and Lydia Mendoza.

"...the best visual record of Tex-Mex and Norteño music that I know." --Ry Cooder

Directed by Les Blank; produced by Chris Strachwitz; with Little Joe & La Familia, Leo Garza, Chavela Ortiz, Andres Berlanga, and more. (1979, 29 min., Bilingual)

A lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteño music tradition.

Directed by Federico Hidalgo; with Vanessa Bauche, Noel Burton, Susana Salazar. (2003, 100 min., Bilingual with English subtitles)

Norman, a quiet, middle-aged college teacher from Montreal, embarks on the adventure of his life when he goes to Mexico to propose to Gladys, a young woman he met through an Internet agency. Gladys, played by Vanessa Bauche (AMORES PERROS, EL PATRULLERO) accepts Norman, but impulsively requires him to bring her widowed mother, Fernanda (Susana Salazar - AL NORTE DEL CORAZÓN), with them to Canada. In the emotional showdowns that follow, Norman, Gladys and Fernanda must find the courage to overcome great distance, foolish desire, and the obstinate fear of solitude.

Official Selection, 2004 Sundance Film Festival; Best Screenplay, Miami Latin Film Festival.

“A sensitive,...hilarious exploration of the
pleasures and perils of discovering your soul mate.” --L.A. Weekly

Screenings of PENNY SERENADE and MELODIC MOODS, followed by a performance by Ralph Brockway

This melodramatic work from director George Stevens stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as a couple about to separate. Through flashbacks, the joys and sorrows of their life together are recounted.

"From the moment that Miss Dunne sadly turns on the old gramophone and, to the plaintive strains of "You Were Meant for Me," the scene fades back to her first meeting with Mr. Grant, you may recognize that you are in for a reminiscent wrench. Then, as she successively replenishes the music box with such nostalgic tunes as "Just a Memory," "Missouri Waltz," "Poor Butterfly," "Blue Heaven," etc., right out of a book, you follow the couple as they marry, suffer countless little woes, buy a country newspaper, adopt a baby and finally lose the child they love so much...

But some very credible acting on the part of Mr. Grant and Miss Dunne is responsible in the main for the infectious quality of the film. Edgar Buchanan, too, gives an excellent performance as a good-old-Charlie friend, and Beulah Bondi is sensible as an orphanage matron. Heart-warming is the word for both of them. As a matter of fact, the whole picture deliberately cozies up to the heart. Noel Coward once dryly observed how extraordinarily potent cheap music is. That is certainly true of PENNY SERENADE." --Bosley Crowther, New York Times (May 16, 1941)

"Melodic Moods" was the title of a series of live radio programs broadcast over stations at Purdue University and Iowa State College between 1944 and 1948. The programs featured the piano interpretations of Ralph Brockway improvising and weaving together popular melodies of the time. Ralph developed his musical style in taverns, cocktail lounges, dance halls, and resorts throughout the Midwest in the 1940s. His story is told to Drew Sauer, a fellow musician two generations his junior.

RALPH BROCKWAY WILL PERFORM A SET OF "TIMELESS CLASSICS" FOLLOWING THE SCREENING

Directed and produced by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville; with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, John Prine, Bono, Charley Pride, George Jones, Dolly Parton, and more. (2005, 58 min.)

Cowboy Jack Clement, maverick entrepreneur and madcap jester of the country music industry, is an unorthodox man captured here in an unorthodox documentary. Filmmakers Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville combined Jack's personal archive of thirty years of home movies with contemporary verité footage to achieve a biographical program that Gordon describes as a mix between traditional documentary and an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

"The exploits of Cowboy Jack Clement could fill five documentaries, and this one by Morgan Neville and the gifted Memphis music writer Robert Gordon tries to make them all, serving as biography, career overview, character study and free-associative archival dip." --Jim Ridley, Nashville Scene

Directed by Aaron James Sorensen; with Gordon Tootoosis, Stacy Da Silva, Colin VanLoon. (2004; 92 min.)

A remote Cree community takes on a certain charge when one of its own sets out on an ambitious (and somewhat loopy) adventure. Seventy-five-year-old Martin Fox decides abruptly one morning that before he dies he must visit the grave of his long time hero Hank Williams. Martin sets out for Tennessee on a Greyhound, accompanied by a reluctant 17 year-old nephew sent along as a guide. As the two travelers gain human-interest-story-of-the-week status in the U.S. press, the news trickling back home provides a unifying spark to the little community, and the variety of colorful characters that make it their home.

"If I had to make a list of the best films of the year so far, HANK WILLIAMS FIRST NATION would be in my Top 10...And veteran actor Gordon Tootoosis--who's had a fairly big role in the recent television miniseries INTO THE WEST--would be my choice for the year's best actor." --Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Heber Springs Screenings & Events