Clichés are used and appropriated throughout time, often based upon some truth. These are the representations we have of a country or those who live here and these associations are usually the things that stick with us most. These are the things we ask the new kid about at school or uni and get analyzed about by others when travelling abroad.
The Hola Mexico Film Festival aims to rid Mexico of its negative connotations and reinvent the Mexico we’re continuously acquainted with in scenes of Breaking Bad, old cartoons and comics and that episode of The OC set in Tijuana. Through the medium of film, The Hola Mexico Film Festival brings forth the portrayal of the day-to-day lifestyle of the modern Mexican in the form of comedies, documentaries and art-house and dramatic film.
“To see a Mexican film sometimes you’re like, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen this story’. You’ll see actors, you’ll see stories, and you’ll see places you’ve never seen before”. So every film is new when you see it. I think it’s very important,” says Festival Director Samuel Douek.
HMFF kicks off in Melbourne, the first stop of its Australian tour and a city under the deep spell of Mexican food and culture. With tacos on every corner and Mexican options on thousands of menus there really is no better time or place to start engrossing ourselves with real Mexican culture.
Representing simple Mexican life has been a major aim of Douek’s since the beginning of the festival chain. He, like others viewed the vast majority of these clichés as highly offensive and provided outsiders with a negative perception of Mexico. “Well, you know, the worst clichés are all that we’re very lazy and we drink tequila the whole day. You know, those are just terrible. And we say ‘Arriba! Arriba!’ and we have like all these horses and donkeys and that’s how we move,” he notes.
Inspired by the varied film culture in Melbourne, Douek decided to begin his own festival, a celebration of Mexican talent in the film industry, a positive portrayal of Mexican living. Through his favourite Mexican export, film, Douek began the gradual alteration of public perception. Inspired by the foreign film festivals in Melbourne, Douek decided to establish HMFF and bring forward Mexican films because there weren’t any.
“I think it’s important that people get to see them [Mexican films]; another aspect, a broader spectrum of reality. Not only what the media depicts or what we hear…and see in bad movies about Mexico”.
The festival combines all genres of film, catering to a varied palette. There are family films, crude documentary films, the premiere of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s (The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In) film, light comedies and dramas. Douek states that these films, despite their differences in genre and production, all tell amazing stories about Mexico. In selecting the films for the festival, HMFF take risks in selecting films never screened before against films invited to many film festivals. As a result, you should expect to see a varied array of films that will appear to a wider audience.
The festival, now in its seventh year in Melbourne, will begin with a fiesta like no other. Mariachi Gringo, a light comedy will premiere during the opening night celebrations, complemented by a Mariachi band, tacos, tequila (Douek prefers Milagro) and beer. Douek’s ideal opening night would consist of a screening of the same film, ten chefs from Mexico cooking different dishes in a big open parking lot with different lounges and different likes. Selma Hayek “wouldn’t hurt”, too. However, the festival he threw in New Zealand a few years ago does come close. “I remember being really happy to be in New Zealand. I think there were maybe like four Mexicans. Everyone else was just Kiwis that were really happy to have a Mexican film festival. I just like that people enjoy Mexico and are getting to hear different stories from our country”.
BY BRIGITTE TROBBIANI
