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?
Country: Cuba 2009
Plots keywords: Drama | Cuban Revolution | 19 Century
Language: Español – English subtitles
Director and Writer: Fernado Pérez Vadés
Production Co: Co-producción Cuba-España; Televisión Española (TVE) / Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC) / Lusa Films S.L. / Wanda Films
Runtime: 120 min.
Cast: Daniel Romero Bildaín, Rolando Brito, Broselianda Hernández, Enrique Lázaro Piedra, Manuel Porto, Julio César Ramírez, Damián Rodríguez, Francisco López Ruiz, Eugenio Torroella
Awards: 2010 Premios Ariel: Mejor película iberoamericana (ex aequo)
José Martí: El Ojo del Canario
José Martí, entre los 9 y los 17: los únicos años en que conoció de cerca a su patria y en los que aprendió a amarla y entenderla, para hacer la magna obra que le tomó el resto de su vida. No es una biografía: es un itinerario espiritual inspirado en la infancia y adolescencia del héroe nacional cubano José Martí.
”José Martí fue un hombre de una sensibilidad muy especial que marcó la historia de Cuba, pero también fue un ser humano común, corriente, como cualquiera de nosotros. Creo que eso es lo que hace grande a los grandes hombres. Mi película se sumerge en la complejidad cotidiana que formó el carácter de Martí durante su infancia y adolescencia. La mirada será más personal que histórica, más subjetiva que biográfica. Cada cubano tiene su Martí. En este filme, yo trataré de expresar el mío.” -Fernando Pérez, Director
José Martí: The Eye of The Canary
Little is known of the childhood and youth of the great 19th-century Cuban liberator, José Martí. This robust biopic imagines his early years. The son of a magistrate, the precocious Martí — “Pepe” to family and friends — takes an early interest in justice. Gradually he enters the nascent independence movement and, not yet 18, is arrested for sedition. Respectful, yet not worshipful, this is a portrait of the revolutionary as a young man, and a stirring historical drama besides.
José Martí: The Eye of the Canary was awarded the Ariel for Best Latin American Film at the Mexican Academy Awards in 2011.
Fernando Pérez has published articles on cinema and taught courses on film appreciation and cinema history at various Cuban universities. His filmography contains over a dozen titles including Havana Suite (2003), Life is to Whistle (1998) and Madagascar (1995). He was chosen as the most outstanding Cuban film director of the 1990s by the Cuban Film Press Association.