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
12
Wed
Revolution @ Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston
Jun 12 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Country: Argentina 2010
Plots keywords: Drama | War movies | History | 19th Century
Language: Español – English subtitles
Director: Leandro Ipiña
Writer: Leandro Ipiña, Andrés Maino
Production Co: TV Pública
Runtime: 93 min.
Cast: Rodrigo de la Serna, León Dogodny, Juan Ignacio Ciancio, Javier Olivera, Víctor Hugo Carrizo, Anita Gutierrez, Matías Marmorato, Martín Rodríguez
Awards: 2011: Premios Sur: Mejor diseño de vestuario y maquillaje

Revolución
Leandro Ipiña toma distancia de los puntos de vista que se abordaron anteriormente en este nuevo film sobre San Martin. Narrada por un anciano que en su juventud fue amanuense de San Martín y en el 1880 del relato malvive en una pensión, la película entrelaza el interés intimista de su narración con un despliegue visual de dimensiones avasallantes para cubrir ese primer cruce de Los Andes en el que San Martin se planteó la liberación de toda Sudamérica de los virreynatos.

 

Revolution

The story starts in 1880, near the date when the remains of the deceased José de San Martín were moved to Buenos Aires. A veteran of the Army of the Andes gets an interview for the event, and the narration continues mostly through a flashback. The telling of the events does not follow the complete biography of San Martín, focusing instead in the Crossing of the Andes and the later Battle of Chacabuco.

 

FILM SERIES:  The History Through Cinema