After having to postpone the 12th edition Hola Mexico Film Festival to September due to COVID-19, the largest Mexican Film Festival outside of Mexico will launch an online film series, Hola Mexico Virtual Theater. Hola Mexico Film Festival wants to encourage cinephiles to stay safely in their homes for now and watch some of the best in recent Mexican cinema.
The films being screened range in genre, from Revolución which is comprised of 10 short films (including those directed by Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal) which reflect what the directors see as today’s revolution and the impact it has on young Mexicans to Tiempos Felices (Happy Times) which is a lighthearted story of a guy who hires an agency to break up with his girlfriend.
Each film featured in the series, which launches on May 21, has been “specially curated for this online theater event experience,” and will be available to screen weekly, from Thursdays to Sundays. Each film will play for only 24 hours and will include a prerecorded Q&A session. To support the filmmakers and festival, each film will cost $4.99 to screen. All proceeds will be shared with the filmmakers.
“We’re talking about some of the best films to have come out of Mexico yet were never released in the United States, or if they did screen in the U.S., it was for a limited time, and they are certainly not currently available to view anywhere else,” Samuel Douek, Founder & Director of the Hola Mexico Film Festival, says.
Below are the films that are scheduled to be screened, though more films will be announced in the coming weeks.
May 21: Los Parecidos (Director Isaac Ezban)
May 22: El Estudiante (Diretor Roberto Girault)
May 23: Revolución (Directors Mariana Chenillo, Fernanda Eimbcke Amat Escalante, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo Garcia, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá, Carlos Reygadas, Patrica Riggen)
May 24: Oso Polar (Director Marcelo Tobar)
May 28: Los Ojos del Mar (Director Jose Alvarez)
May 29: Historias Del Desencanto (Director Alejandro Valle)
May 30: El Cielo Abierto (Director Everardo Gonzalez)
May 31: Tiempos Felices (Director Luis Javier H.)
The Hola Mexico Virtual Theater kicks off May 21, 2020.