February 1, 2002
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417
 
AMHERST, Mass.—The Mead Art Museum and the Department of Spanish at Amherst College will show a free series of films on Mexican-American themes beginning in February, in conjunction with the exhibition Casa Mañana: The Morrow Collection of Mexican Popular Arts, on view at the Mead until April 21.

The first film in the series, shown on Monday, Feb. 11, is Traffic (2000), Steven Soderbergh’s contemporary thriller about the high-stakes, high-risk world of the drug trade.

Touch of Evil (1958), shown on Wednesday, Feb. 13, is Orson Welles’s gripping study of corruption and morality, set in a small town just across the Mexican-American border.

Under the Volcano (1984), shown on Monday Feb.18, is John Huston’s screen adaptation of Malcolm Lowry’s powerful meditation on self-destruction and personal despair.

Like Water for Chocolate (1992), shown on Wednesday, Feb. 20, is a simmering cauldron of romance and revolution, passion and purity, mysticism and witticism, directed by Alfonso Arau.

El Mariachi(1993), shown on Monday, Feb. 25, is Robert Rodriguez’s western pastiche that follows the saga of a "mariachi" (Mexican musician) who wanders into town looking for work and accidentally is mistaken for a hitman--who just happens to hide his guns in a guitar case.

The series closes with Danzon (1992), shown on Monday, March 4. Mar’a Novaro, Mexico’s leading female director, made this film about a single mother who works in an unsatisfying job as a switchboard operator and expresses herself only through danzon, a traditional Cuban ballroom dance.

Mexican filmmaker Gregario Rocha will discuss The Forgotten Story of Edmundo Padilla: A Mexican-American Itinerant Exhibitor and His Lost Film Archive on Thursday, April 4.

All the films and presentations will be at 7 p.m. in Stirn Auditorium on the Amherst College campus, and are free and open to the public. Casa Mañana: The Morrow Collection of Mexican Popular Arts was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the Fideicomiso U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture and the Hall and Kate Peterson Fund.

The Mead Art Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday evenings until 9 p.m. Closed Mondays and holidays. More information can be obtained on the Museum’s Website.

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