Apr
24
Wed
La Otra Conquista @ Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston
Apr 24 @ 6:00 pm – 7:45 pm

Country: Mexico 1998/2008
Plots keywords: Drama | Histórico//History | Conquista de América | Colonialismo//spanish colonization | Siglo XVI//16th century | Cultura Azteca//Aztec
Languagues: Español- Nahuatl. English subtitles
Director: Salvador Carrasco
Writer: Salvador Carrasco
Production Co: Carrasco, Domingo Films / Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes / Universal Studios
Runtime: 115 min.
Cast: Damián Delgado, José Carlos Rodríguez, Elpidia Carrillo, Iñaki Aierra, Honorato Magaloni, Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez, Carlos Álvarez, Luisa Ávila, Ramón Barragán, Alejandro Bracho, Diana Bracho, Josefina Echánove, Rufino Echegoyen, Guillermo Ríos, Lourdes Villarreal, Maya Zapata

La Otra Conquista
México 1521, Topiltzin y su pueblo sufren ‘la otra conquista’, la conquista espiritual, por parte de los españoles y la película narra la imposición de la nueva cultura y religión a las costumbres de su pueblo.


DESCUBRIMIENTO Y CONQUISTA. MIERCOLES DE PELICULA. La historia a través de cine


The Other Conquest
It is May 1520 in the vast Aztec Empire one year after the Spanish Conqueror Hernán Cortés’ arrival in Mexico. “The Other Conquest” opens with the infamous massacre of the Aztecs at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan [what is now called Mexico City]. The sacred grounds are covered with the countless bodies of priests and nobility slaughtered by the Spanish Armies under Cortés’ command. The lone Aztec survivor of the massacre is a young Indian scribe named Topiltzin [Damián Delgado]. Topiltzin, who is the illegitimate son of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma, survives the onslaught by burying himself under a stack of bodies. As if awakening from a dream, the young man rises from among the dead to find his mother murdered, the Spanish in power and the dawn of a new era in his native land. A New World with new leaders, language, customs… and God. Representing the New Order is the Spanish Friar Diego [José Carlos Rodríguez]. His mission is to convert the “savage” natives into civilised Christians; to replace their human sacrifices and feathered deities with public Christenings and fealty to the Blessed Virgin Mary. With Topiltzin, Friar Diego faces his most difficult spiritual and personal challenge, for when Topiltzin is captured by Spanish troops and presented to Cortés [Iñaki Aierra], the Spanish Conqueror places Topiltzin’s conversion under Friar Diego’s care. Old world confronts the New as Topiltzin struggles to preserve his own beliefs, whilst Friar Diego attempts to impose his own. Moreover, all the while, the question remains: Who is converting whom?

Jun
26
Wed
Goya in Bordeaux @ Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston
Jun 26 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Country: Spain 1999
Plots keywords: Drama | Epic Biography | History | 18th – 19th Centuries | Art
Language: Español – English subtitles
Director and Writer: Carlos Saura
Production Co: Coproducción España-Italia; Lolafilms / Italian International Film
Runtime: 104 min.
Cast: Francisco Rabal, José Coronado, Maribel Verdú, Eulalia Ramón, Dafne Fernández, Mario de Candia, Azucena De La Fuente, Franco di Francescantonio, Borja Elgea, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Josep Maria Pou, Saturnino García, Carlos Hipólito, Manuel de Blas, Pedro Azorín, Joaquín Climent, Cristina Espinosa.
Awards:
1
999: 5 Premios Goya: incluyendo Mejor actor (Francisco Rabal). 10 nominaciones
1999: Festival de Montreal: Mejor contribución artística

2000: Premios del Cine Europeo: Mejor fotografía
2001: Satellite Awards: Nominada a Mejor película extranjera

Goya en Burdeos

A los 82 años, exiliado en Burdeos con Leocadia Zorrilla de Weiss, la última de sus amantes, el pintor Francisco de Goya reconstruye para su hija Rosario los acontecimientos que marcaron su vida. Una vida en la que se suceden convulsiones políticas, pasiones emponzoñadas y el éxtasis de la fama.

Goya in Bordeaux

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), deaf and ill, lives the last years of his life in voluntary exile in Bordeaux, a Liberal protesting the oppressive rule of Ferdinand VII. He’s living with his much younger wife Leocadia and their daughter Rosario. He continues to paint at night, and in flashbacks stirred by conversations with his daughter, by awful headaches, and by the befuddlement of age, he relives key times in his life, particularly his relationship with the Duchess of Alba, his discovery of how he wanted to paint (insight provided by Velázquez’s work), and his lifelong celebration of the imagination. Throughout, his reveries become tableaux of his paintings.

 

FILM SERIES:  The History Through Cinema