The Muestra de Cine Mexicano en Guadalajara (Mexican Film Festival in Guadalajara) was held for the first time in 1986. Since then, it has become one of the main cinema events in Latin America, showing over 50 motion pictures in nine theaters before an audience made up of both foreign and domestic film makers, distributors, critics, students and lovers. The 14th Muestra took place from the 12th to the 18th of March, 1999. This year, eleven Mexican feature films --seven of which were premieres-- and fourteen shorts competed for the various categories of the Mayahuel award (named after the goddess of the Maguey cactus, the state plant, from which Tequila is made). These films were shown to a numerous and enthusiastic audience in the University’s Cine Foro. After the screenings, debates were held with the directors, principal cast and crew members, and the audience voted for its own prize. The 1999 Mayahuel awards went to: Best film according to the international judges: El Evangelio de las Maravillas (Divine), Directed by Arturo Ripstein, with Francisco Rabal and Katy Jurado in the leading roles. Ripstein called this film the "sum and compendium" of his 33 years in motion pictures, a dozen of them in collaboration with his wife and scriptwriter, Paz Alicia Garciadiego. Best film selected by the national judges: Bajo California: El límite del tiempo (Under California: The Edge of Time), Directed by Carlos Bolado with Damián Alcázar and Jesús Ochoa. This directorial debut tells the story of a Mexican-American in search of his roots. Un dulce olor a muerte (A sweet Scent of Death), Directed by Gabriel Retes, also received special mention in this category. The Organización Católica Internacional de Cine (OCIC or International Catholic Film Organization) gave its award to Alejandro Springall’s film Santitos, with Dolores Heredia and Demián Bichir, for its "joyous search for meaning". The organization had previously given an award to Bajo California: el límite del tiempo, and gave special mention to Del olvido al no me acuerdo (Juan, I forgot I don’t remember), Juan Carlos Rulfo’s quest for the elusive memories of his father, famed Mexican author of Pedro Páramo, Juan Rulfo. The audience award went to Sexo, Pudor y Lágrimas (Sex, Shame and Tears), by Antonio Serrano with Demián Bichir and Susana Zabaleta. The film is based on a play, also written and directed by Serrano, dealing with the problems of modern couples as a tragicomedy. The national and international judges joined in giving Ondas hertzianas (Hertzian Waves) the prize for best short film, with a special mention to La historia de I y O (Mr. I and Mrs. O) by Valentina Leduc. For the first time this year, an award was given to best Ibero-American film by Canal 22 (Channel 22), consisting of a generous sum for the television rights to the Spanish film Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes) by Alejandro Amenábar, with Eduardo Noriega and Penélope Cruz. Beginning as a sampling of Mexican films for students of the University of Guadalajara, the Festival has grown and, in 1996, former Dean Raúl Padilla López created a Trust Fund to ensure its continued existence and promotion of Mexican films through funding from the University, the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE, the Mexican Film Institute) and private sponsors. The festival director is film critic and teacher Susana López Aranda. Katy Jurado and Francisco Rabal in El Evangelio de las Maravillas Each year, the Muestra organizes a homage to a national film personality. In 1999, Katy Jurado, the only Mexican actress to have won the Golden Globe Award and the only one to be nominated for an Oscar, was selected and a retrospective of her work (seven films) was held. El Cine de Katy Jurado (The Movies of Katy Jurado), a book by Emilio García Riera, one of Mexico’s foremost film historians and critics, was edited for the occasion. Coincidentally, Katy Jurado was born in Guadalajara in 1924. Previous recipients of this tribute include: Silvia Pinal, Ignacio López Tarso and Marga López. One of the Festival’s special guests was actor Edward James Olmos, who proclaims himself a Mexican, the first son of the Olmos family to be born in the United States of America. Aside from his outstanding performances in many films and his credits as director and producer, Edward James Olmos has been active in promoting film as a major factor in establishing cultural identities, especially with regard to the Latino community in the United States. "Cinema being the most powerful art form ever created by humankind", he said, "I am grateful that Mexico is growing once again in the importance of this art. It dominated and participated in the Golden Era of Cinema, then lost its strength in the 50s and 60s by not developing the youth of its country in the usage of it. It now starts its revitalization in the 90s in a profound manner, and will enhance the images of Mexicans throughout the world, thereby giving Americans of Mexican ancestry a strong understanding of their inherent root". There were nine films within the Ibero-American section. The country selected as special guest of the Muestra this year, Canada, was represented by fourteen films, seven of them by director Atom Egoyan. Seven features and four shorts from Basque Country were also screened for the Guadalajara audiences. The seven special showings ranged from Central do Brasil (Central Station) to a restored print of Cascabel (Rattlesnake) directed by Raúl Araiza in 1976, about the plight of the Lacandon Indians in Mexico. Emilio Garcia Riera, famous for his multi-volume Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano (Documentary History of Mexican Film), which includes data on over 3,500 films, presented at this gathering what he deemed his most important work; Breve Historia del Cine Mexicano, Primer Siglo 1897-1997 (Brief History of Mexican Film, the First Century 1897 –1997). Here, he attempts to synthesize the main currents and events in Mexican cinema throughout what he optimistically insists upon calling its first century of existence. Also presented within this forum were the books: El ojo y la navaja (The Eye and the Razor), by Leonardo García Tsao; and Horizontes del Segundo Siglo (Horizons of the Second Century), compiled by Julianne Burton, Patricia Torres, Angel Miguel and Enrique Sánchez Ruiz. The Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (National Council for Culture and the Arts) proudly unveiled the result of three years of joint labors of IMCINE and the University of Colima in the form of a CD Rom entitled Cien Años de Cine Mexicano 1896 - 1996 (A Hundred Years of Mexican Film 1896 -1996). It includes an extensive array of pictures, facts, film sequences, essays, and a bibliography on Mexican film. IMCINE also placed a wide range of film material (books, videos, posters, CD Roms) on sale outside the main screening room. In addition to the films and books presented, the XIV Muestra de Cine Mexicano provided a propitious forum for meetings between producers, distributors and creators. There were a variety of social events: gala dinners and informal luncheons, allowing the film community to exchange views and anecdotes, as well as giving rise to various business contacts. The city of Guadalajara provided lovely colonial settings: the elegant Degollado Theater, Casa Vallarta, the Hospicio Cabañas (with murals by José Clemente Orozco), El Refugio (an ex-convent in picturesque Tlaquepaque), as well as more modern hotels, restaurants and night spots. Movies are the most global of art forms. The silver screen acts both as a mirror for people to see themselves, and as unofficial ambassador presenting our common humanity as well as our local idiosyncrasies and diversity to other peoples. The XIV Muestra de Cine Mexicano en Guadalajara was a celebration of Mexican movies and their significance both at home and abroad. Muestra de Cine Mexicano en Guadalajara http://ceduca.udg.mx/muestra/Prin.html IMCINE http://www.imcine.gob.mx/ Cineteca – National Film Archive http://www.cnca.gob.mx/cnca/cineteca/bienv.htm Filmoteca de la UNAM – National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Film Archive www.unam.mx/filmoteca