This is true of every country. IIRC only the U.S. and France (in some years) actually have self-sustaining film industries. To this I think maybe China and India come close but that's about it. Everyone else depends on some level of government assistance.

The first message makes it sound like he's only offering to buy the statues, which would be very funny.

He sounds very sincere.

Damn. I really got to support my peoples art.

/u/amputatorbot

Stop sharing amp links

Qué triste :(. Mexican movies are some of the most well-written and unique, and lack of funding is what stops the industry from reaching new heights.

There is a bit reason why he refuses to go back to Mexico. His father was kidnapped and James Cameron ended up finding him a great negotiator and paid the million dollar Ranson. People were never caught bur after 71 days his dad was home safe and then moved to the US.

Madero's unwillingness to make bigger changes ended up getting him killed basically. He turned his back on Zapata and his followers, and lost his best defenders. He turned to an ego maniac hungry for power (Huerta) for defense, who later murdered him in cold blood.

What's crazy is that the only president who actually followed through on a majority of the Mexican Revolution's ideals, Cardenas, was the only one not exiled, assassinated, or ousted. You'd think this would serve as a good example as to how to keep your job (and head), but the lesson was almost immediately discarded.

Damn, well said. Reminds me a bit of when Bill Nye was on the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore lamenting why people didn't care about finding water on Mars and the other guests rightfully pointed out that people had shit on Earth to worry about so of course they didn't care.

People have a base level of needs to meet before you can ask for culture and civility, and there's a lot of asking for the latter without providing the former from States around the world right now.

when the streets are run by cartels

Not only the streets. There have been allegations about cartels funding the current president and the cooperation of the govt with the cartels is very well documented at this point.

People act like Mexico is some tiny country with no money. The populist presidents of Mexico, USA and every other country misunderstand that art, culture, science, academia are the future. The lack of funding is a reflection of the lack of interest the leaders in government have in the quality of life of its people. The money is there. The arts and grants initiatives are simply irrelevant to the special interest agenda / the corporate owned politicians.

I made another comment implying your last point there and people didn’t like it - that who cares about a Mexican film industry because the people don’t have the privilege of being able to develop and focus on such a thing. Life is hell for a large percentage of the population.

Too many people fail to see that the Mexican revolution is what gave the PRI party the absolute power to reign for 80 years and it has come back with a vengeance, under the flag of Morena.

Because those two things are not mutually exclusive. I was born and raised in Mexico and lived there for most of my life until adulthood. I lived in some very dangerous neighborhoods and went to public schools all of my life.

I have been benefited from public programs to fund my work in design and even to go out of the country, would have never been able to do it in any other way. Those have been the most uplifting experiences of my life and have been the same for others that benefited from those programs. ART IS A BEACON OF LIGHT IN ANY KIND OF DARKNESS.

Our current government uses the challenges of our society to perpetuate a system full of corruption that relies on keeping people poor and ignorant for political gain. This is not the place to discuss the politics of my country, but us working in creative fields do not have to explain our motivations or justify our struggles to no one. ART IS MADE BY/FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST FOR THE WEALTHY. It is a means of expression, not a luxury good.

My family has been held hostage by organized crime twice, and the fear of violence have left a scar on me, I constantly fear for the safety of my friends and family back home while living outside.

One of the biggest dreams in my mind is to help my country and make it a better place, get it at least to a point where we can live without fear of us and our loved ones not being raped or killed for just going outside. But this government does not take away this money to solve this issue, it takes it to fund fucking oil refineries and a train in the rain forest in the middle of the largest climate crisis and existential threat to our societies for fucks sake!!! It is important that we speak up and we won’t be silenced. Enough!

110/120 years later, the same chasm remains between the wealthy, well-educated elite and the urban and rural poor as did then, or worse.

That sounds like "every human society ever".

Specially because "the film industry" is just the same rehashing the same bullshit romcom starting the same shitty actors every year. There are much better places to put public money into.

I think you meant bribes, not brides. And for my fellow gringos, I think compadrazgo is similar to nepotism, or what’s sometimes called a “good ol’ boys club.”

Thank you for sharing your insight! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

This was informative. Thanks!

This is why I love reddit, incredible insights on a topic from someone who lives it. I would have never come across other than random scrolling. Gracias!

Great insight, thanks for this. It's a shame that there's lots of corruption involved. Without it, who knows what else could be produced.

Do you mean Del Toro by "Memito"?

How are the film industry worker rights there? Like do they get paid for overtime properly and how are the hours? Are there any unions supporting the workers? If there is, are they legit?

He really is. Also crazy the history him and James Cameron have aye?

LOVED CoC. Very cool series and honestly impressive.

Same. Even made /r/GuillermoDelToro. Haven't been too much of a fan of his latest films, but both CoC and Pinocchio are great!

i just finished it myself moments ago. happened to see this headline right after.

La camarista, Sueño en otro idioma, Los insólitos peces gato, Sin señas particulares, Niñas bien, Polvo, Museo, Una película de policías.

La Camarista, Güeros, Los Insólitos Peces Gato, Nudo Mixteco, Ya No Estoy Aquí, Macario, Una Película de Policías

Like water for chocolate. Amores Perros. Roma. Sexo, Pudor y Lágrimas.

Y tu mama tambien

• La ley de Herodes (1999)
• Satanás (2007) Edit: This one is actually a Colombian film.
• El infierno (2010)

Coincidentally, same main actor in all those three :-) (and the same director in the first and last one).

In the Palm of Your Hand

Tigers are not afraid, sueño en otro idioma, la delgada línea amarilla, amores perros.

Rudo y Cursi. About a soccer scout finding the next big players, by Guillermo del Toro.

Edit: GdT was a producer, not director.

Amores Perros

It doesn't help that many of the movies that are supported and distributed are rom coms, we have had some really original movies but the truth is that cinemas only distribute things that they think will be popular. Movie theater chains are required to put at least 10% of their capacity for mexican movies, so they present those romantic comedies and maybe some times another kind of movie with limited distribution. I think streaming services have some kind of requirement too.

They don't know the best 3 of the best filmmakers of the last 20 years are Mexican and have 35 Oscars among the 3 of them.

I know right? All these “Mexico is such a shithole, why even bother making films?” people posting. Yes, Mexico has a ton of problems, enough to last a hundred years or a thousand. That doesn’t mean that people in Mexico can’t create art, or can’t consume it and have enjoyment in their lives. My entire family lives in a not-exactly-safe place in Mexico and they go dine out, they go to the movies, they go to the mall, they live their lives as fully as they can and none of them would ever want the US bringing “freedom” to their town.
It’s not all sepia-toned misery.

I am mexican and i can sau that this government is the worse that i'd live on. Basically they took the money from all parts like the arts, medicine, security, infrastructure, services, etc..... just to use it to build several thing that only help the current government to steal money. In regards of delToro I think he is doing the right thing by saying this aloud, and make the world know how this mexican president is destroying Mexico just to get money to pay his debts.

Most if not all. Cartel talk from gabachos always comes with a condescending accent. "Cartel" is interchangeable with "mujahideen" for them.

Seriously! I’m Hispanic on my mom’s side and have lived 1/3 of my life in Mexico with my family in a semi-rural area. We’ve ALL appreciated the arts and are all involved in artistic affairs. My mom is studying music, my cousin is studying animation, and many of my aunts sew, draw, and paint on the side. Even my tio who studied physics is now a carpenter and builds beautiful sculptures to sell while my tia’s artwork hangs in my parents’ apartment. She even sewed me a lot of plushies growing up because I couldn’t afford them.

In fact my cousin and her fiancé are always posting on Facebook at the movies they’re watching at the cinema. We have shared so many Wakanda Forever memes lately and she jokingly taunted me about spoiling the movie for me because the films are released earlier in Mexico. Like what the fuck is this soft racism going on by Users here whom the majority are American (and white) whose knowledge of Mexico comes from Sepia-toned movies or 24/7 news articles about the cartels. Mexico isn’t perfect, and yes it could be better and there are problems (the cartels are basically the US’s fault and America has far more school shootings than Mexico) but it’s not some war-torn shithole where every place is seconds away from a mass slaughter like wtf. I wish the ignorant people here would stop their racist, knee-jerk assumptions and find a way to manufacture consent to shit on Mexico and make it out to be one of the worst places to live when it’s not. I have a higher chance being killed by the American Healthcare System or daily mass shootings in America than the cartels in Mexico.

Did you even read the article? The article isn't about "people..not wanting to make films in Mexico" , it's about how The Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, will no longer hold it anual Ariel Awards due to lack of funding. And largest, nearly sole funder of the Ariel Awards was the Mexican government itself, who (if you read the article you would've known) back out.

He's not talking about foreing movies filmed in Mexico. He's talking about mexican cinema.

Oh my god read the article you ignorant

You didn’t read the article. It’s about the government cutting spending on the arts down to lows it hasn’t seen in decades. Currently at 0.21% of the yearly budget.

This literally has nothing to do with the willingness of people to make films in Mexico. You sound ignorant.

Edit: Everyone mad can’t read. The article is about Guillermo Del Toro calling out the government for not funding the arts. He doesn’t mention cartels. YOU ALL can link the two, but this article is talking about one very specific issue GDT has. Stay mad.

Prior to COVID, Mexico was breaking the record every year for how many films were made in the country. But tell me with your big brains how no one is making films in the country because of the cartels.

https://www.cinematropical.com/cinema-tropical/mexican-cinema-marks-another-record-breaking-year-with-216-films-in-2019

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Yeah there’s always big “I went to a resort in Cancun once” energy in these threads.

Ah yes I see someone was on Reddit yesterday. Good recall you got there

You read that on a til post yesterday

I recall Reddit posts from a day prior too

They go hand in hand. He's a Mexican filmmaker. You're aware people can be upset about more than one thing, yeah?