Mexico – After the Oscars, Mexican cinema in the sky – L’Express

With two Oscars won on Sunday by Alejandro Inarritu (Best Director), the second in a row, and Emmanuel Lubezki (Best Cinematography), its third straight, the winners of the Mexican cinema of the past five years is impressive: 9 Oscars 4 Golden Globes, three prizes at Cannes, a Golden Lion in Venice, two awards in Berlin, etc.

If this prodigious harvest is mostly the work of a small group of talented directors and producers, especially Alejandro Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron, they are not the only ones to shine Mexican cinema.

“ Instead of a new wave, we should speak of several waves ,” said Jean-Christophe Berjon, critic and former coach for the Cannes Film Festival, based in Mexico City . “ Several families coexist and mutually stimulate .”

The family Inarritu is also that of Cuaron and Guillermo Del Toro, all three managed to conquer Hollywood in recent years.

“ There is a special relationship between them, a very stimulating exchange “, says Daniela Michel, director and cofounder of the Morelia film festival, which saw them start. “ They show their films during assembly, sometimes occur together .” They even created their own company, Cha Cha Cha Films, in 2009.

– ‘Movida’ Mexican –

Behind this Inarritu generation installed in the US and now in the firmament a new wave is emerging including Amat Escalante and Michel Franco, both already awarded in Cannes.

The ‘Movida Mexican fascinating to some Hollywood stars as the favorite actor Quentin Tarantino, Briton Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) recently appeared in two Mexican films, “ 600 miles “Gabriel Ripstein and” Chronic “Franco.

“ What is happening here is amazing. (…) One feels that here is a new energy, a kind of realist cinema movement ,” said Roth last October during his visit to Mexico.

In ten years, Mexican production has exploded. In 2000, the year of the first film Inarritu ( “ Amores perros “), the country produced about 10 films a year. It is now at 120 per year.

This spectacular growth is explained by the introduction of an incentive tax deduction system, which drives companies to invest in film.

After a golden period from the thirties to the late fifties, with famous directors such as Luis Buñuel, Mexican cinema had yet almost disappeared, worn by decades of bad comedies had grown weary public.

In the 90s, there is virtually no more turned movie in Mexico.

“ This is the short film that kept alive the Mexican cinema during these years ” explains Daniela Michel, the Morelia film festival has become in 13 years one of the largest in Latin America.

– Mexican cinema against Hollywood –

Ironically, though production has increased tenfold, Mexican cinema visibility remains marginal on its territory. Not easy to see a Mexican film in many cinema complexes in the country that offer American blockbusters.

“ Only a third of the films produced in dining out ,” said Berjon. And if the winning filmmakers in Cannes, including Carlos Reygadas, Escalante or Franco, have gained notoriety in Europe, they are little known in their countries, distribution of fault.

But to defend his film, the Mexican operating margin is narrow. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it can help domestic production or distribution in theaters on pain of being accused of distorting free competition.

also can not deduct an amount on each ticket to power a support fund for production, such as exists in France.