Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles • SRE

Carlos García de Alba Zepeda

Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles
Andrés Webster Henestrosa
Consul for Educational Affairs

National Autonomous University of Mexico

Enrique Graue Wiechers
Rector
Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas
General Secretary
Leopoldo Silva Gutiérrez
Administrative Secretary
Alberto Ken Oyama Nakagawa
Institutional Development Secretary
Javier de la Fuente Hernández
Community Services Secretary
Mónica González Contró
General Attorney
Francisco José Trigo Tavera
International Affairs Coordinator

Department of Cultural Affairs

Jorge Volpi Escalante
Coordinator

UNAM Los Angeles

Paula de Gortari
Director
Aída Espinosa Vázquez
Academic Dean
Alfredo Fernández
Administrative Delegate
Diego Gutiérrez
Special Projects Coordinator
Fernando Pérez Rodríguez
Spanish Coordinator
Alejandra Vega
Assistant to Director
Isela Hoenigmann
Assistant

University Center for Film Studies

María del Carmen de Lara Rangel
Director
Nancy Berenice Mena Velarde
Private Secretary
Sandra Margarete Loewe Greiner
Academic Dean
Enrique Ojeda Cástol
Technical Secretary
Bertha Guadalupe Miranda Diosdado
Coordination of School Film Production
María Leticia Enríquez Cruz
Administrative Unit Head
Rodolfo Peláez
Publishing Departament
Mauricio Ochoa Morales
Academic Outreach
Adriana Chávez Castro
Film Promotion
Óscar Manuel Ramírez Siordia
Community Manager
 Introduction

For the first time since its foundation, the University

Center for Film Studies (CUEC) of the National Auton-
omous University of Mexico (UNAM) is proud to pres-
ent its film production to new audiences in the United
States, through the Consulate General of Mexico in
Los Angeles.
The oldest film school in Latin America will screen
the CUEC Film Festival at the Mexican Center for Cul-
ture and Cinematic Arts (CCCM) in Los Angeles the
first Wednesday of each month, from February to
July 2018.
Each of these six programs will screen an antholo-
gy of the best short films made by CUEC students along
2017. Some of them have been selected or awarded
at important national and international film festivals,
such as the 59th Ariel Awards ceremony, organized by
the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences; the
Guadalajara International Film Festival; the Morelia In-
ternational Film Festival; the Latin American Film Fes-
tival of São Paulo, and the Latin American Film Festival
of Rosario, Argentina, to name a few.
In total, the Festival will exhibit forty-two different
worldviews, allowing spectators to approach a wide
variety of themes and audiovisual proposals, made
with academic rigor and total creative freedom, to
offer documentary and fiction short films in different
genres and considering social awareness.
Among these works, two documentaries that deal
with the border issues between Mexico and the Unit-
ed States are worth mentioning, as they are particu-
larly interesting for this venue: Lo que queda (What
Remains), by Daniel Campos, and El muro adentro (The
Wall Within), by Juan Manuel Ramírez.
We hope that this door, which is opening today in
Los Angeles, will endure with the same enthusiasm
and generosity so that, in a joint effort, the dissemina-
tion of film culture emanating from the classrooms of
Mexico’s Highest Learning Institution may increase.

– María del Carmen de Lara Rangel

CUEC Director
 CUEC at UNAM Los Angeles

UNAM Los Angeles is pleased to collaborate with the

UNAM’s University Center for Film Studies and the
Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles to bring
to Southern California a Film Festival that shows not
only the great talent among the Mexican university
community, but also its social concerns and thoughts.
Each of the films — some of them awarded by leading
national and international institutions — will offer the
audience a free and creative vision on different topics
of human interest, resonating in our conscience, be-
yond any nationality.
We invite you to enjoy these forty-two short films
and to keep up to date with the academic and cultur-
al activities offered in California by Mexico’s Highest
Learning Institution.

– Paula de Gortari
UNAM Los Angeles Director
 General Program

CUEC Film Festival Los Angeles

Wednesday, February 7
Program 1 Screening 18:30 h Running time 1 h 23 min.

A calzón quitado / Panties Off

Dir. Octavio Rivera Ramírez, CUEC : UNAM, 2015, 6:01 min.
Fiction I
An introverted man travels all alone on the last subway of
the night. A breakdown in the middle of the tunnel will put
him face to face with a beautiful woman who has also been
stranded on the oncoming train. He falls in love instantly and
feels like the situation is favorable for seducing the girl, how-
ever, she may not agree that much.

Selenium
Dir. Diego Granadillo, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 13:30 min.
Documentary I
Portrait of Daniel Mendoza Alafita, independent photogra-
pher, director of the Selenium Studio-Workshop, and one of
the last alchemists of pinhole photography in Mexico.

Mederi
Dir. Héctor Calvillo Hernández, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 9:30 min.
Fiction II
Manuel, a 6-year-old boy, enters his father’s workspace, a
hospital that encourages him to explore. There he will meet
Monica, a patient there who warmly welcomes him. They be-
come intimate friends, which will force Manuel to face one of
the biggest questions of his life, changing his idea of the world
and the relationship with his father.

Lo que queda / What Remains

Dir. Daniel Campos, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 16:03 min.
Documentary II
A journey through the different places that migrants pass
through on their way to the United States and the traces of
objects they have lost there, and how those objects help to
reconstruct the identity and/or history of the persons who
carried them.

Chambelán
Dir. Fabián León López, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 13:00 min.
Fiction II
Daniel has to go. He can’t say anything to anyone, but he
needs help. With some money, he will be able to leave and
never come back.

Feliz cumpleaños Margarita / Happy Birthday Margarita

Carlos Manzo Núñez, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 1:21 min.
One-minute Short
Margarita, 9, celebrates her birthday with her family and
friends. During the party she makes a wish; it could come true.

Peñas / Crags
Dir. Sheila Altamirano, CUEC : UNAM, 2015, 24:15 min.
Thesis
From her childhood in the countryside, Mikaela faces the cy-
cle of life.

Wednesday, March 7
Program 2 Screening 18:30 h Running time 1 h 19 min.

Estamos jugando a que sí / We’re Playing You Bet

Dir. Mónica Burciaga, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 5:34 min.
Fiction I
Denisse, brokenhearted and lonely, decides to go out at night
to fulfill her emptiness.

Hermanos / Brothers
Dir. Andrea Pérez Su, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 13:54 min.
Documentary I
A group of former football players, from the Vultures and Ca-
naries teams, tell of their experiences on the field, the bonds
and values they have created in their youth, and how these
have endured over time.

Pirueta / Pirouette
Dir. Israel Cruz, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 11:00 min.
Fiction II
Tania hesitates between a promising career as a dancer or fol-
lowing the motherhood feeling she begins to experience after
knowing she is pregnant.

REPSA / UNAM’s Ecological Reserve

Dir. Xavier Rodríguez Treviño, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 7:25 min.
Documentary II
In the UNAM’s main campus, the Pedregal de San Angel Eco-
logical Reserve strives to preserve native ecosystems against
the predatory advance of humankind.
Reflejos / Reflections
Dir. Isabel Barajas, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 1:33 min.
One-minute Short
She wants to run away from herself but her reflections pre-
vent her from escaping, until she explodes, everything ex-
plodes. A dance-visual essay on self-acceptance.

Regreso a la bruma / Return to the Mist

Dir. Alicia Ortega García, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 40:00 min.
Thesis
Upon returning to her mother’s birthplace, the filmmaker
shows — through a contemplation, closeness and loving view-
point — a vision of the daily life of her family and the people
of the Buenavista town in Oaxaca.

Wednesday, April 4
Program 3 Screening 18:30 h Running time 1 h 21 min.

Celda 245 / Cell 245

Dir. Roberto Telles Alcántara, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 4:20 min.
Fiction I
After a blackout at the prison psychiatric hospital, a guard en-
ters the surveillance room to monitor the patients through
the security cameras, from which she discovers that one of
them is hurting herself. She tries to contact someone who can
assist her, but when she doesn’t get an answer she decides to
go to the cell, where she will undergo a terrifying experience.

Compas Oaxaca / Oaxaca Buddies

Dir. Jorge Eduardo Franco Castillo and Luis Ángel Vargas Sego-
via, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 15:24 min.
Documentary I
The National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) is in
constant struggle with the federal government to safeguard
public education in Mexico. The two parties have their respec-
tive positions.

Veintiuno / Twenty-one
Dir. Christian de la Luz, CUEC : UNAM, with the support of
Close Up Mexico, 2017, 13:33 min.
Fiction II
Twenty-one, a game that consists of obtaining a bus ticket
whose folio adds up to 21 to be exchanged for a kiss, is the
trigger for the teenagers David, Armando and Ana to discover
their sexuality.

El muro adentro / The Wall Within

Dir. Juan Manuel Ramírez, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 18:00 min.
Documentary II
Portrait of the humanitarian crisis along the Sonoran Desert,
where thousands of people have died in recent years trying
to cross the border from Mexico to the United States to seek
employment. Amidst this catastrophe, the Donald Trump gov-
ernment intends to build a new border wall.
Tierra baldía / Wasteland
Dir. Argenis Salinas Pineda, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 11:40 min.
Fiction II
After six months of unemployment, Ruben is trying to adapt
to his new house life, while fixing his car to satisfy his need to
do something.

Elipse / Ellipse
Dir. Silvana Lázaro, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 1:39 min.
One-minute Short
How fast does life go? Three children play without imag-
ining it.

Pléyade / Pleiade
Dir. David Muñoz Velasco, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 17:00 min.
Thesis
Mariana tries to overcome the loss of her girlfriend. Her life
has become meaningless, until the light of her lost love re-
turns to haunt her... or show her the way.

Wednesday, May 2
Program 4 Screening 18:30 h Running time 1 h 10 min.

Espejo / Mirror
Dir. Rubén Servín Victoria, CUEC : UNAM, 2015, 5:02 min.
Fiction l
César dreams he is murdered. Interpreting his dream as a
prophecy, he will try to discover his aggressor, which will lead
him to reveal a terrible truth.

4 cuadras / 4 Blocks
Dir. Diego Ruiz, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 14:10 min.
Documentary I
Portrait-poem that problematizes the idea of “freedom”
through the testimonies of people living in the Narvarte bor-
ough.

Las voces de las bestias / The Voices of the Beasts

Dir. Sergio Matamoros Conejo, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 11:04 min.
Fiction II
Pablo is a young office worker who is involved in a collective
fraud scheme and can decide whether to participate or not.
On his way home he has a little revelation.

Alien
Dir. Laura Miranda, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 14:56 min.
Documentary II
Do we see things as they really are? Assuming that we do so
can lead to dangerous positions, for example, racism or xeno-
phobia? This documentary reflects on issues such as migra-
tion, border walls and the restriction of human mobility, from
the point of view of people who apparently do not study any
of these subjects: astronomers.
Un día / One Day
Dir. Macarena Hernández Abreu, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 1:20 min.
One-minute Short
She doesn’t even have the will to get out of bed. But outside,
that day outside, she rediscovers herself, and the so long de-
layed catharsis finally takes place.

La muchacha indecible / The Unspeakable Girl

Dir. Sofía Landgrave, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 9:53 min.
Fiction II
Amaranta, 9, moves away from Mari and Victor to play alone
in the forest that hides a mystery.

El túnel / The Tunnel

Dir. Emiliano Mendoza, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 1:30 min.
One-minute Short
The journey through a tunnel that seems infinite.

Cangrejo ermitaño / Hermit Crab

Dir. Alejandro Ramírez Collado, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 12:30 min.
Thesis
After committing a crime, an absorbed fisherman wanders
through the remote places of a coastal area.

Wednesday, June 6
Program 5 Screening 18:30 h Running time 1 h 14 min.

Tu casa / Your Home

Dir. Marco González Bermúdez, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 7:23 min.
Fiction l
After the funeral, Alicia returns to her boyfriend’s apartment.
In her solitude, she perceives a supernatural presence.

Sonante de madera para cámara en tres movimientos

Wooden Sonant for Chamber Music in Three Movements
Dir. Samantha Méndez Badillo, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 13:14 min.
Documentary l
Exploration of the creative act, the intuition and the tech-
nique, in relation to the limits of the art, based on the craft of
the luthier, the instrument and the musician.

Autobiografía para corregir hubieras / Autobiography to

Correct “If Onlys”
Dir. Laura Miranda, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 12:50 min.
Fiction ll
Virginia, an elderly writer, writes her autobiography when,
abruptly, her character refuses to perform such a story. The
protagonist, as she says, wants to tell the truth.

Sui Generis
Dir. Roberto Telles Alcántara, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 15:00 min.
Documentary l
Sui Generis is the name of a group of motorcyclists in Mexico
City. Several of its members are older adults who have decid-
ed to keep motorcycling as a fundamental part of their lives.
Their trademark features are their eccentricity and their code
of brotherhood, and, above all, the phrase “Live every day as
if it were the last” is the line that defines their path.
Dos ballenas / Two Whales
Dir. Diego Cruz Cilveti, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 15:00 min.
Fiction II
Two teenage siblings live alone in an apartment during their
mother’s hospitalization. This period of isolation will lead
them to repair their relationship while sharing the concerns
of becoming adults.

Crónica marciana / Martian Chronicle

Dir. Silvana Lázaro, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 12:00 min.
Fiction II
After the settlement of men on Mars, Mario, a 67-year-old
man, recalls different moments in his life as he explains how
humans left the Earth.

Wednesday, July 11
Program 6 Screening 18:30 h Running time 1 h 23 min.

Larga noche / Long Night

Dir. Diego Granadillo, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 5:17 min.
Fiction l
Juan, a young student, tries to escape endless nightmares re-
sulting from his overwhelming environment.

Lo que es nuestro / What Belongs to Us

Dir. Bernardo Chávez Castellanos, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 13:10 min.
Documentary l
Film production exposing the problem of food in Mexico and
the low nutritional quality of existing products; it is also an
approach to two people who seek to change this situation.

El pozo / The Well

Dir. Mauricio Sánchez Arias, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 5:55 min.
Fiction l
A scavenger finds in the garbage the possibility of realizing
his dream. He will seek to fulfill it, in spite of the numerous
obstacles imposed by his social reality.

Intermitencias del sueño / Sleep Intermittances

Dir. Sofía Landgrave, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 17:00 min.
Documentary ll
Clara and Agapito fight against the physical and psychological
ailments of old age. Locked in her home and away from her
children, Maria has become her caregiver. Their routine life
immerses them in their memories and dreams.

Nota roja / Yellow News

Dir. Yazmín Núñez, CUEC : UNAM, 2017, 9:25 min.
Fiction ll
Hector, a humble young man, will struggle between the ideas
of justice and revenge as he mourns the loss of his sister; in
a country where impunity and violence are rife, Hector will
make a decision that will determine his fate.
Circuito cerrado / Closed Circuit
Dir. Xavier Rodríguez Treviño, CUEC: UNAM, 2017, 12:24 min.
Fiction II
Julian has a simple routine for every day. He gets up, picks
up his mail, gets ready and spies on Ana from the moment
she leaves until she returns home. Julian then receives a call
and reports all of Ana’s activities to his boss, an imposing and
threatening voice.

Lo que se viene a la mente / What Comes to Mind

Dir. Roberto Telles Alcántara, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 7:05 min.
Fiction ll. Guest Short Film
Tulio, with his back on the ground, blood on his chest, a gun in
his hand and several bills lying around him, remembers some
of the events of his life that led him to that moment. Mem-
ories of the ideas that his family and social context sowed in
him raise a reflection on the decisions we’ve made and how
they define the path of our lives.

Insomnia Karelia
Dir. Laura Miranda, CUEC : UNAM, 2016, 13:00 min.
Guest Documentary Short Film
Is it possible to describe a city in a documentary? This short
film shows three different approaches, based on the idea that
any vision is necessarily fragmented.
 Venue

Mexican Center for Culture and Cinematic Arts

(CCCM)

Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles

2401 W 6th St.

Los Angeles, CA 90057
United States