Nuevo Cine Mexicano

Nuevo Cine Mexicano, also referred to as New Mexican Cinema, is a Mexican film movement started in the early 1990s. Filmmakers, critics, and scholars consider Nuevo Cine Mexicano as a “rebirth” of Mexican cinema due to the production of higher-quality films, which has led to high international acclaim as well as box-office success which has been unseen since the golden age of Mexican cinema of the nineteen-thirties to sixties due to the quality of Mexican films downgrading which resulted in the rise of infamous Mexican genres such as Luchador films, sexicomedias and ultimately the low-budget direct-to-video Mexploitation film. Films since the Golden Age had also declined due to Mexican audiences watching more films from overseas, especially Hollywood productions.

Many themes addressed in Nuevo Cine Mexicano include the roles of gender, identity, tradition, and socio-political conflicts within Mexico itself The movement also has hailed international success with films such as director Alfonso Cuaron’s Y tu mama tambien (2001), which was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and at the Golden Globes for Best Foreign Film, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Amores Perros (2000), which was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards.

Arguments concerning when this “new wave” of Mexican cinema began and whether it has any clear parameters as to how it differs from other Mexican film movements other than “newfound audience enthusiasm”. Some cite the actual rejuvenation of Mexican cinema as starting in 1998 in a Post-NAFTA Mexico beginning with the film Sexo, pudor y Idgrimas. Others believe it began due to the international acclaim of the films such as Like Water For Chocolate (1992) due to its nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes. The definition of Nuevo Cine Mexicano also leads to the question, “What is a Mexican film?” meaning is a film Mexican because who makes, who stars, and where it takes place is of Mexican origin

The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema occurred from the 1930s to the 1960s, afterwards a period of low-budget B-movies funded by the state of Mexico were the primary source for films to the Mexican public. A resurgence of Mexican cinema was believed to occurred in the 1970s, however, the success lasted shortly due to the majority of the Mexican public turning to Hollywood films.

Prior to the 1990s, the Mexican film industry was primarily funded by the state in coordination with the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia (Mexican Film Institute of Cinematography), IMCINE. A decrease in Mexican audiences watching Mexican produced films in favor of Hollywood blockbusters as well as “film production dropp[ing] to an all-time low” due to Mexico facing an economy crash in 1994. The IMCINE produced roughly five films a year during the crisis The main influx of directors and filmmakers, as well as funding, primarily came from the IMCINE. The incoming filmmakers, nicknamed the “1990s Generation”, were helped along with the generation of 1968 with their filmmaking skills.

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