This Tuesday, the Cineteca Nacional announced the 14 titles that will make up its 73rd International Film Festival; a film exhibition event that, as in past editions, will allow the Mexican public to appreciate films brought from other parts of the world on the big screen; both remastered classics and contemporary productions that to date lack commercial distribution in our country.
The 73rd International Film Festival of the Cineteca Nacional brings together film proposals from India, the United States, Germany, Sweden, Argentina, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Lithuania, Colombia, Poland, Cuba, Denmark, Iceland, Mexico and (especially ) France. Curiously, the latter appears as one of the countries of origin of nine of the fourteen films that make up the programming.
Representing Mexico, this next edition boasts Two seasons, the most recent feature film by director Juan Pablo González, which narrates the efforts of its protagonist to keep the family business —a tequila factory— afloat, despite floods, plagues and the voracity of large corporations. The film is starred by Teresa Sánchez (Fire night, the chambermaid), who for his work in this film deserved acting awards at the great festivals of Sundance 2022 and FICM 2022.
Find out below all the films that make up the 73rd Exhibition of the Cineteca Nacional. What interests you the most?
sacred spider (Dir. Ali Abbasi)
- Countries: Denmark, Germany, Sweden and France
Synopsis: A Tehran journalist plunges into the most dangerous neighborhoods of the Iranian city of Mashhad to investigate a series of murders. She soon realizes that the crimes are the work of a single man who attacks sex workers at night with the purpose of purifying the city of his sins.
Two seasons (Dir. Juan Pablo González)
- Countries: Mexico, France and the United States
Synopsis: María García is the heir to an old and majestic tequila factory in the Jalisco Highlands, which seeks to stay afloat in a market dominated by foreign corporations. When a plague and a flood cause irreversible damage, Ella María is forced to do everything possible to save the community’s main source of income from her. As the situation deteriorates, she grows closer to Rafa, her new manager.
Love according to Dalva (Dir. Emmanuelle Nicot)
- Countries: France and Belgium
Synopsis: The life of Dalva, a 12-year-old girl, suddenly changes when she is forced to leave the home where she lived with her father. Furious and not understanding her motives, she is moved to a room in a juvenile care center and she starts going to another school. Little by little, Dalva begins to understand that something else is hidden behind what she has always called love.
sick of me (Dir. Kristoffer Borgli)
- Countries: Norway and Sweden
Synopsis: Signe and Thomas have an unhealthy competitive relationship that takes a sudden turn when he finds enormous success as a contemporary artist. In response, Signe will try to create a new personality to desperately attract the attention and sympathy of others. But as Signe’s psychopathy and narcissism escalate, we’ll slowly descend into the darkest recesses of his mind.
Godland (Dir. Hlynur Pálmason)
- Countries: Denmark, Iceland, France and Sweden
Synopsis: At the end of the 19th century, a young Danish priest arrives in a remote region of Iceland, then a colony of Denmark, to build a church and photograph its inhabitants. On his journey through the stunning but dangerous landscape, the idealistic cleric is aided by an Icelandic guide and translator. But the further he penetrates into that unforgiving territory, the more he deviates from his mission and his morals until he comes to an inexorable confrontation with the locals.
Klondike (Dir. Maryna Er Gorbach)
- Countries: Ukraine and Turkey
Synopsis: July 2014. Irka and Tolik are expecting a baby; They live in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine and close to the Russian border, a disputed territory in the early days of the Donbas war. Their nerves for the baby’s birth are juxtaposed with the serious accident that occurs with Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and with a tension that increases with the arrival of the armed forces and the political factions that are created.
Veronica’s double life (Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski)
- Countries: France, Poland and Norway
Synopsis: Weronika lives in Poland and has a brilliant singing career, but suffers from a serious heart condition. Thousands of kilometers from there, in France, lives Véronique, another young woman identical to her, also a singer and with the same ailment. Although unknown to each other, both women share an enigmatic connection.
The last movie show (Dir. Pan Nalin)
- Countries: India, France and the United States
Synopsis: Samay, a boy who lives in a humble village in India, discovers cinema for the first time and is amazed. Against his father’s order, he returns day after day and befriends the projectionist who, in exchange for food, lets him watch movies for free. When technology threatens to replace his celluloid dream, Samay enlists his friends to build his own projection device.
Laila in Haifa (Dir. Amos Gitai)
- Countries: France and Israel
Synopsis: Over the course of one night in a nightclub in the port city of Haifa, Israel’s third largest, the stories of five women intertwine, revealing issues ranging from interpersonal relationships to issues such as identity.
Over the clouds (Dir. María Aparicio)
Synopsis: Ramiro is a cook in a bar. Hernán is an unemployed technician. Mora is a nurse in a public hospital. Lucía is an employee in a bookstore, Four stories and a black and white city with cloudy skies. None of them know each other; they are just inhabitants of the same city.
Sparta (Director Ulrich Seidl)
- Countries: Austria, Germany and France
Synopsis: Seeking to start a new life, Ewald leaves his girlfriend and his job, and moves to an impoverished rural wasteland in Romania. With the help of local children, he transforms a dilapidated school into a fortress where they can play freely. However, mistrust will soon arise among the inhabitants and Ewald will have to face a long-repressed truth.
an honest citizen (Dir. Idan Haguel)
Synopsis: In a Tel Aviv neighborhood, Ben and his boyfriend Raz seem to have the perfect home and a life where everything is in its place. The only thing missing to complete their harmony is a baby, a plan they are trying to make come true. When Ben decides to plant a tree on his street, he unleashes a whole conflict that leads to the brutal detention of an Eritrean immigrant, in an incident that causes the young man to question the image of himself and his society.
A movie about life (Dir. Dovile Sarutyte)
- Countries: Lithuania and the United States
Synopsis: Back from Paris in his native Lithuania, Dovile’s life is shaken by the death of his father. But there is no time to grieve, since he has to urgently organize the funeral. Trying to make it perfect, worthy of his memory, Dovile cares for every detail of the process, but finds herself in increasingly curious situations as childhood memories of him haunt her.
Vincent B. (Dir. Carlos Lettuce)
- Countries: Cuba, France, United States, Colombia and Norway
Synopsis: Cuba’s historical documents have long referred to santeras with contempt. They called them “witches” and named them by their first name and the first letter of their last name. Vicenta B. lives in Havana and has a gift for seeing the future of people. Every day she receives women and men who come looking for a solution to her problems. When her only son decides to leave the country, Vicenta, she enters a crisis that does not let her understand why she has been left alone in a place where everyone seems to have lost faith.
The 73rd International Film Festival will take place from March 30 to April 16, 2023 in rooms of the Cineteca Nacional, located in the Xoco neighborhood of CDMX.
The 14 titles will also be screened at the Cineteca Circuit. This includes Cine Tonalá, Le Cinéma IFAL, the UNAM University Cultural Center, the Chopo Cinematograph, Cinemanía Plaza Loreto and the Jaime Torres Bodet Cultural Center of the IPN. There will also be functions in different Cinépolis and Cinemex complexes.
Antonio G. Spindola I have very bad memory. Out of solidarity with my memories, I choose to lose myself too. Preferably in a movie theater.