Mexican Film Noir

May 7–June 11, 2016

See how Mexican directors took the icy cool of the Hollywood noir and turned up the heat in this sampling of films from the 1940s and 1950s in new restorations.

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  • The Kneeling Goddess

  • Twilight

  • La Otra

  • May God Forgive Me

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • La otra

    • Saturday, June 11 8:30 PM
    Roberto Gavaldón
    Mexico, 1946

    BAMPFA Student Committee Pick!

    Mexican superstar Dolores del Rio stars (twice) in a double role as both a preening, wealthy housewife and her downtrodden, bespectacled sister in this gritty noir, filmed on locale in Mexico City.

  • The Devil's Money

    • Thursday, June 9 7 PM
    Alejandro Galindo
    Mexico, 1953

    Stolen money, lustful romance, labor unrest, and the rumba flavor this expressionistic noir by Alejandro Galindo. 

  • Night Falls

    • Saturday, May 28 6:30 PM
    Roberto Gavaldón
    Mexico, 1952

    Introduced by Steve Seid
    A Nietzschean jai alai star obliviously struts his way through a succession of broken-hearted lovers and conniving gangsters in this atmospheric noir starring Mexican matinee idol Pedro Armendáriz.

  • May God Forgive Me

    • Sunday, May 22 6 PM
    Tito Davison
    Mexico, 1948

    Mexico’s glamour queen María Felix channels Bergman, Bacall, and Hayworth as a refugee hiding—or scheming—in Mexico City during World War II. 

  • In the Palm of Your Hand

    • Saturday, May 21 8:30 PM
    Roberto Gavaldón
    Mexico, 1951

    A con artist with dreams of grandeur finds himself overmatched by a murderous widow in this Arturo de Córdova–starring noir, which finds our hero abandoning everything for passion, and death. 

  • The Kneeling Goddess

    • Saturday, May 14 6:30 PM
    Roberto Gavaldón
    Mexico, 1947

    BAMPFA Student Committee Pick!

    Hammett meets Baudelaire in this steamy noir of love, madness, and death involving an affair between a married aristocrat (Arturo de Córdova) and a female model (María Felix). 

  • Twilight

    • Saturday, May 14 8:40 PM
    Julio Bracho
    Mexico, 1945

    A progressive, forward-thinking doctor falls for a temptress in this spectacularly shot noir that inhabits a world of darkness and shadows, where rational thought rails against irrational desire—and fails.

  • Another Dawn

    • Saturday, May 7 6:30 PM
    Julio Bracho
    Mexico, 1943

    BAMPFA Student Committee Pick!

    An unhappily married cabaret singer voyages through a world of corrupt cops, labor union organizers, and political unrest in this Langian noir, starring the legendary Pedro Armendáriz.