Mexican cinema in the news

British indie director and sometimes actor Alex Cox writes in today’s Guardian about his guest role in The Oxford Murders and muses about Iberolatinamerican directors’ fascination with England. He notes Cuarón’s installment of Harry Potter and especially Children of Men, both filmed in England, but more interestingly says of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth: “It’s a Spanish-language film, intended for the Spanish-speaking market; yet its fantasy language is utterly English, old chum – drawing on everything from Arthur Rackham to Alien.”

The Oxford Murders is directed by Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia and opens this week in the UK. It is an adaptation of the 2003 thriller novel Crímenes imperceptibles by Argentine mathematician, novelist, and essayist Guillermo Martinez in which mathematical symbols are the key to understand a series of murders that have taken place around the university.

Reporting from Mexico City for the Hollywood Reporter/Reuters, John Hecht reveals how “once-endangered genres like sci-fi, horror and animation are making a spirited comeback,” as young filmmakers move beyond lesser imitations of commercially successful its from nuevo cine mexicano like Y tu mamá también. Lemon Films productions like the horror film Kilometer 31 and animated feature Una Pelicula de Huevos have found commercial success while films from Canana Films and Mantarraya Producciones have made their mark on the festival circuit. “Less than a decade ago, it would have been hard to imagine a Mexican production company lining up a western and a sci-fi project in the same year. Yet as the industry has evolved, the spectrum has opened up considerably.” Read more.