From Pancho Villa to Netflix: An Introduction to Mexican Cinema

This course is an introductory overview to Mexican cinema, its prominent themes, and its historical eras. We will begin with the silent films of the national period in the 1930s and conclude with the transition to streaming platforms in the 2010s. We will pay attention to three interrelated questions: 1) What is the relation between cinema and political projects? 2) How does national cinema approach gender? 3) What is the role of neoliberal market in reshaping Mexican films? This approach will be useful to see how the production of cinema is related to major political and social processes in Mexico.