What: Esperando a Los Bitles, part of the NY International Latino Film Festival
When: Friday, August 17, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Clearview Cinemas Chelsey 6
Directed by: Diego Graue and Raymundo Marmolejo
On May 10 2012 –Mother’s Day in Mexico, Paul McCartney gave a free concert in Mexico City’s Zócalo, before a crowd of 15,000 people, give or take. Among them, there were some who enjoyed it just a little bit more than anyone else. They are the few, the maniacs, those who also know that when McCartney invited Mariachi Gama 1000 into the stage to perform “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” it was not the first time that the music of The Beatles collapsed with Mariachi. They are Mexico’s beatlemaniacos, who are the subject of Esperando a Los Bitles, a documentary by Diego Graue and Raymundo Marmolejo, which will have its US premiere on Friday, August 17 as part of the NY International Latino Film Festival.
Esperando a Los Bitles is a very well balanced documentary about the inner workings of a marginal and quite quirky urban tribe. The directors portray the colorful eccentricity of their character’s world without mercy, like when one of them tells a story about how a model he built of a yellow submarine won him a “very special” prize. But they also present them in all their humanity, in a style somewhat reminiscent of Werner Herzog’s How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck –in other words: you’ll laugh, but you’ll also find these characters endearing. In the climax, a trip to Liverpool discloses how what seemed to be a very idiosyncratic Mexican expression of fandom, is actually tied to the global phenomenon of Beatlemania, with representatives from Spain, Germany, and the US.
Check it out: you won’t be disappointed. You’ll learn about Yellow Dog and other famous Beatles bootleggers, you’ll meet John Leo, a Mexican John Lennon impersonator, and you’ll also get a glimpse at the world’s biggest statue of John Lennon, which is in Monterrey, next to a replica of Michelangelo’s David. Find out why many people in Mexico are still waiting for Los Bitles.
If you’re in New York, you can watch Esperando a los Bitles it for free. Just click below for tickets!
[insert-video youtube=ZBdHoLSzTqU]