Women Filmmakers in Mexico
The Country of Which We Dream
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- $37.99
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- $37.99
Publisher Description
Women filmmakers in Mexico were rare until the 1980s and 1990s, when women began to direct feature films in unprecedented numbers. Their films have won acclaim at home and abroad, and the filmmakers have become key figures in contemporary Mexican cinema. In this book, Elissa Rashkin documents how and why women filmmakers have achieved these successes, as she explores how the women’s movement, film studies programs, governmental film policy, and the transformation of the intellectual sector since the 1960s have all affected women’s filmmaking in Mexico.
After a historical overview of Mexican women’s filmmaking from the 1930s onward, Rashkin focuses on the work of five contemporary directors—Marisa Sistach, Busi Cortés, Guita Schyfter, María Novaro, and Dana Rotberg. Portraying the filmmakers as intellectuals participating in the public life of the nation, Rashkin examines how these directors have addressed questions of national identity through their films, replacing the patriarchal images and stereotypes of the classic Mexican cinema with feminist visions of a democratic and tolerant society.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Throughout the 1980s and '90s, "women's cinema" in Mexico flourished. Challenging conventional representations of women, female filmmakers began telling their own stories. In Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream, Elissa J. Rashkin undertakes a rigorous, compelling examination of the history of film by Mexican women. Treating such themes as social marginalization (Dana Rotberg's Angel de Fuego), illegal abortion (Rosa Marta Fernandez's Cosas de Mujeres, or Women's Things) and sexual shame (El Secreto de Romelia by Busi Cortes), Rashkin deals in "bold act of revision," debunking "romantic or tragic icons." B&w photos. ( Apr.)