Developed by an array of state-financed producers, directors, cinematographers, writers, and actors as well as a supporting cast of thousands, Mexican cinema from the mid 1930s gave rise to a dynamic industry and artistic golden age, which became the preeminent source for movie entertainment in the Spanish-speaking world. Understanding film as a powerful tool in forging citizen, gender and class identities over the past century, editors Joanne Hershfield and David Maciel have assembled a set of highly informative and, at times, provocative writings.
The opening essay by Gustavo A. García tells the history of Mexico’s first encounters with film, beginning with a 1896 public exhibition of the Lumiere brothers’ cinematographe in Mexico City. Not surprisingly, the fledgling medium sparked immediate enthusiasm and soon a number of single-room movie houses dotted the urban landscape. Considering the advent of sound films during the 1930s, Federico Dávalos Orozco discusses the work of several...
