El General at Haverford

A screening at Haverford this week, with the director in person:

EL GENERAL
directed by Natalia Almada 2009

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
7:00 pm
Sharpless Auditorium
Haverford College

Filmmaker Natalia Almada will be present to introduce and discuss the film.

In 1910 a revolution erupted in Mexico. Among its rallying cries was "the right to vote." Nearly a century later this same cry is heard as thousands take to the streets during a hotly contested presidential campaign. Through the legacy that filmmaker Natalia Almada inherited as the great-granddaughter of Mexican president Plutarco Elias Calles (1924-1928), one of Mexico's most controversial revolutionary figures, accused of having been a dictator, an "Iron Man" and a "Nun-Burner," yet also acclaimed as the "father of modern Mexico," El General is a portrait of a family and a country under the shadow of the past.

Natlaia Almada was the recipient of the 2009 Sundance Documentary Directing Award for El General; her previous credits include All Water Has a Perfect Memory, an experimental short film that received international recognition, and Al Otro Lado, her award-winning debut feature documentary about immigration, drug trafficking and corrido music. Almada’s films have screened at The Sundance Film Festival, The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum and The Whitney Biennial and have been broadcast on the PBS series P.O.V., The Sundance Channel, ARTE, VPRO and others.