Event

About 499

Rating:

Not rated Not rated

Year Released:

2020

Format:

2K DCP

Genres:

Documentary, Drama

Metadata:

Directed by Rodrigo Reyes

Reflecting on the 500-year anniversary of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, director Rodrigo Reyes offers a bold hybrid cinema experience exploring the brutal legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico. Through the eyes of a ghostly conquistador, the film recreates Cortés’ epic journey from the coasts of Veracruz to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, the site of contemporary Mexico City. As the anachronistic fictional character interacts with real-life victims of Mexico's failed drug wars and indigenous communities in resistance, the filmmaker portrays the country's current humanitarian crisis as part of a vicious and unfinished colonial project, still in motion, nearly five hundred years later. In Spanish and Nahuatl with English subtitles.

Tribeca Film Festival 2020 Winner for Best Cinematography

“Deftly weaves brutality with tender beauty, and harsh reality with the realm of dreams” – Jim Jarmusch

“A truly brilliant accomplishment of unconventional storytelling” – Carlos Aguilar, RogerEbert.com

“Raises pertinent questions about Mexico's mixed cultural heritage and the contested representation of reality” – William Repass, Slant