Day of the Dead

“Todos Santos, Día de Muertos” is one of the most commemorative dates for Mexican society. Octavio Paz describes a José Gorostiza’s poem about death by saying: “In this drama without personages, since all things are nothing more than reflections, disguises of a suicide that dialogues with itself in a language of mirrors and echoes, neither is intelligence something other than a reflection, and the most pure form of death, of death in love with itself” … Fragment from El laberinto de la Soledad, 1947.

We all (Mexicans) laugh at “La Muerte”, without realising that it is the “La Muerte” who laughs at herself and at everyone of us.

We would like to invite you all to our Day of the Dead celebration, which will be on Friday 14th November, starting at 5.30pm, room UG04, Learning Centre. This time, our celebration will have the following activities:

Come, enjoy and celebrate with us the Day of the Dead … It’s FREE!!!

If you want to know more about the Day of the Dead, please click here.

UPDATE: We will have “Pan de muerto”, a delicious bread eaten in Mexico these days. So, come early and you will have the chance to try it!

Photo Exhibition

The Mexican Society is glad to invite you to its Photo Exhibition, which is going to be on Thursday 20th March, 6.30pm, Mandela Room, Guild of Students. Admission is completely free!

Come, see and discover how Mexico is like: people, traditions, landscapes, historical places, landmarks, etc. All of them captured by our members’ lenses.

Mexican Society Film Week

The Mexican Society is proud to announce and publish its Film Week, which will be held from 11th to 15th February in the Learning Center (R28 in this map). All movies are going to start at 6pm. After the Friday’s movie, everybody is invited to the Staff House, where the Society is going to invite its members the first round of drinks.

Admission is free and all movies will have English subtitles.

We are going to have the opportunity to watch the following films:

Date: Monday 11/02 Place: LG32 Title: Wolf (El Lobo) Country: Spain Director: Miguel Courtois Writer: Antonio Onetti

Based on a true story, El Lobo is about an infiltrator in the ETA terrorist group, whose mission, in the early 1970’s, brought down a fourth of its members. El Lobo is inspired by the life of Mikel Lejarza, Lobo (Wolf), the Spanish secret agent who infiltrated ETA between 1973 and 1975. Lobo contributed to the fall of one quarter of the terrorist activists of the organization, including several Special Forces members and some top-level figures of the group. Lejarza’s infiltration destabilized the terrorist organization at a time when its actions where becoming a perfect justification for the most conservative arm of the Franco regime to take full powers and stop the democratic process in Spain.

Date: Tuesday 12/02 Place: LG34 Title: Mystic Stones (Piedras Verdes) Country: Mexico Director: Angel Flores Torres

One woman searches for peace in a life that offers her little respite in this melodrama from Mexico. Mariana has lived a life that began in chaos when her mother was killed in an accident before Mariana was born; the baby was saved, and then sold to a wealthy couple . As she grows to adulthood, Mariana finds herself often feuding with her adopted mother. In time, Mariana becomes involved with Carlos Gallardo and pursues an increasingly decadent lifestyle with him until he falls to his death from a window during an argument. In a panic, Mariana runs away, finding solace with Sebastian, a stable and spiritually oriented man. As Sebastian follows his higher power, Mariana tries to find some closure regarding her troubled childhood by searching for her long-lost biological father.

Date: Wednesday 13/02 Place: LG34 Title: Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas) Country: Argentina Director: Fabián Bielinsky Writer: Fabián Bielinsky

Early one morning, Marcos observes Juan successfully pulling off a bill-changing scam on a cashier, and then getting caught as he attempts to pull the same trick on the next shift. Marcos steps in, claiming to be a policeman, and drags Juan out of the store. Once they are back on the street, Marcos reveals himself to be a fellow swindler with a game of much higher stakes in mind, and he invites Juan to be his partner in crime. A once-in-a-lifetime scheme seemingly falls into their laps - an old-time con man enlists them to sell a forged set of extremely valuable rare stamps, The Nine Queens. The tricky negotiations that ensue bring into the picture a cast of suspicious characters, including Marcos’ sister Valeria, their younger brother Federico and a slew of thieves, conmen and pickpockets. As the deceptions mount, it becomes more and more difficult to figure out who is conning whom.

Date: Thursday 14/02 Place: LG32 Title: Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate) Country: Mexico Director: Alfonso Arau Writer: Laura Esquivel

The film mainly concerns the life of Tita and her two sisters, Gertrudis and Rosaura. All three sisters live along with their mother, Mama Elena, in a ranch on the Mexico/Texas border at the beginning of the 1900’s. As the youngest of the sisters, Tita is forbidden by family tradition to marry or have children, instead she is to tend to her mother until her dying day. As a result of her father dying the day after her birth, Tita has been brought up in the kitchen of the ranch and has learned much about food and the important role it plays from Nacha, the cook. Unaware of the family tradition, a local boy, Pedro, falls in love with Tita (and she with him). He informs Tita of his intentions to ask for her hand in marriage, but this request is refused. However a compromise is suggested that Pedro marry Rosaura instead, Pedro agrees to this as he realises that marrying into the family will be the only way he can be near his true love. While she understands his reasons for marrying Rosaura, Tita is unable to talk to, or be near, Pedro as her mother forbids it. However, when Tita is made head cook for the ranch she soon realises that she can communicate her desire for Pedro through the food she cooks for the family.

Date: Friday 15/02 Place: LG32 Title: The Young and the Damned (Los olvidados) Country: Mexico Director: Luis Buñuel Writers: Luis Alcoriza and Luis Buñuel

Behind every beautiful city are poor children. In the slums of Mexico City, a gang of unruly youths take out their frustrations on those less fortunate than themselves. They rob from a blind man, they attack a cripple, they kill animals. The gang leader is El Jaibo, a vicious teenager who has just been released from prison. He sates his revenge by beating another young man to death, witnessed by his young acolyte Pedro. In a vain attempt to win his mother’s affection, Pedro tries to make an honest life and starts an apprenticeship. But, thanks to Jaibo’s intervention, Pedro ends up being arrested for theft. Taken to a center for rehabilitating child criminals, Pedro has one last chance to start a new life. Unfortunately, fate, aided once more by Jaibo, has other idea.

Piñata Workshop

The Mexican Society is glad to announce our Piñata Workshop, which is going to be hold next
Saturday 1st December from 12 to 4pm in the Thomson Training Suite (first floor in the Guild). We are going to learn how a piñata is made and everybody will have the opportunity to design and make its own piñata. After the workshop we are going to hit and try to crash all
piñatas made, obviously, with surprises inside.

• When: Saturday 1st December
• Time: From 12 to 4pm
• Where: Thomson Training Suite, first floor Guild of Students