Download Presenta - Libertadores

Presents:
HIDALGO
The Untold Story
A film by Antonio SERRANO
Synopsis
Hidalgo, in his cell at the Military Hospital of Chihuahua, recalls various periods
in his life, mainly the time he worked as a parish priest in San Felipe Torres
Mochas. It was there that he came into contact with the poorer classes and the
idea of emancipation began to grow in his mind. He translated and staged
"Tartuffe" by Molière, he fell in love with Josefa Quintana and gave up the
ecclesiastical life for a period of time.
Technical credits
A FILM BY
Antonio Serrano
SCREENPLAY BY
Leo Mendoza and Antonio Serrano
PRODUCTION
Luis Urquiza and Lourdes García (México).
José María Morales and Sancho Gracia (Spain)
CO-PRODUCERS
Inna Payán and Alejandro Palma
ARTISTIC DESIGN
Brigitte Broch
COSTUME DESIGN
Leticia Palacios
PHOTOGRAPHY
Emiliano Villanueva
EDITOR
Mario Sandoval y Antonio Serrano
POSTPRODUCTION
Tlacateotl Mata
SOUND
Antonio Diego
SOUND DESIGN
Miguel Ángel Molina
MUSIC BY
Alejandro Giacoman
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Brigitte Broch
PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Astillero Films, Wanda Films, Lusa Films and
TVE
Technical details
Type of production: feature-length film
Year of production: 2010
Production year: 2009/2010
Country: Mexico
Duration: 100 min
Genre: Drama
Language: Spanish
Format: 35mm & colour
Audio Format: Dolby Surround
Locations
San Luis Potosi (Hacienda La Corcovada, Pozo del Carmen, Real de Catorce)
Federal District (Museo Casa de la Bola)
Michoacán (Patzcuaro, Cuitzeo, Acutizio de Canje, Morelia)
Guanajuato (Hacienda Jaral de Berrio)
Cast
HIDALGO
Demián Bichir
JOSEFA
Ana De La Reguera
DAMA VILLAVICENCIO
Mar Saura
AMADITA
Cecilia Suárez
JOSÉ SANTOS
Miguel Rodarte
MARIANO
Flavio Medina
BEATA DOMÍNGUEZ
Carolina Politi
MORELOS
Andrés Palacios
BISHOP
Juan Carlos Colombo
ALLENDE
Raúl Méndez
MANUELA PICHARDO
Silvia Eugenia Derbéz
ÁNGEL ABELLA
Pablo Viña
ECCLESIASTICAL JUDGE
José Antonio Barón
SHERIFF
Juan Luis Garrido
Director's Biography: Antonio Serrano
Of Mexican birth, but of Spanish nationality, Antonio Serrano studied
communication at the Ibero-American University and then theatre studies in
Mexico, England, Denmark, France and Italy.
For the theatre, he has written and directed his own productions, including "A
destiempo," "Doble Cara," "Café Americano" and "Sexo, pudor y lágrimas." By
other playwrights, he has produced various works, such as "Molière", "Sexo,
drogas y rocanrol," "Por amor al arte" ...
He has directed more than five hundred hours of television, including three of
the most successful hits on Mexican television, namely "Nada personal" (1996),
"Mirada de mujer" (1997) and "La vida en el espejo" (1999), all produced by
Argos Televisión.
In the world of cinema, he made his debut as a director and scriptwriter with
"Sexo, pudor y lágrimas" ("Sex, Shame & Tears"). He then went on to direct
"La Hija del Caníbal" ("Lucía, Lucía") and the segment "Vida Express" from the
film, "Cero y van cuatro." He is currently working on three stories: "Dead End,"
"Mientras Vivo" and "Pequeñas Certezas." For television he is working on the
series "Códigos privados."
He has received numerous awards for his work as a director, playwright and
scriptwriter throughout his career, such as the Ariel Award from the Mexican
Academy of the Film Arts and Sciences.
A Few Words from Antonio Serrano
Some say that the well-known image of Miguel Hidalgo that is printed on one
thousand peso notes is not his face at all, but that of a Belgian priest whose
portrait was commissioned by Maximilian of Hapsburg so that Mexicans would
have a picture of their hero of the independence movement. They also say that
certain features were deliberately chosen when portraying Hidalgo, such as his
bald patch, given that baldness was believed to be a sign of intelligence back in
the 1840's.
The portrait that we all know today shows an old man with a sweet expression,
a face guaranteed to command the respect of almost anybody. Who could
doubt a wise old man with an expression like that?
And it is this grey and tarnished image that Leo Mendoza's script rubs out with
unique relish in order to reveal a Hidalgo who is much more real. In addition to
relating a series of little-known periods in his life, the script reveals a
fascinating man whose character featured both light and darker sides. He was
an upright and tenacious scholar, but he also had a more irreverent and
rebellious side to his character, a much more youthful and less serene
personality, one given to music, dancing, reading and the theatre. In short, he
was a human being, one quite unlike that legendary picture of the benevolent
and heroic old man portrayed on the peso bills.
His taste for theatre and, above all, the plays of Molière, link his life with that of
the great French master of irony and irreverence, who was able to portray the
society of his age in order to help bring about change. Hidalgo also changed
society, in his capacity as the actor priest of Dolores and of Torres Mochas, the
other town where he established his home, which he referred to as "Little
France."”. To bring Hidalgo and Molière together in a film is to unite the legend
with the man and the theatre with the cinema, two disciplines that both served
to liberate ideas and reflect the reality of their times. In this respect, both Jean
Baptiste Poquelin, "Molière", and Miguel Gregorio Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga
Mondarte, served as the mirrors of their respective times.
MARGINAL NOTE:
At the age of twenty-five I dreamed of becoming an actor. I took a trip around
Italy and signed on for a course on the Commedia del'Arte, that ancient Italian
genre in which Arlecchino, Pantalone, Francescina, Il Capitano and an endless
array of masked types and characters recreate a series of complicated and
politically incorrect injustices and adventures through improvisation. This
experience enabled me to join a company specialising in this genre, known as
the Tag Theatre of Venice, which I accompanied as an actor for a number of
years, travelling around the different streets, squares and theatres in the towns
and cities where we presented our shows. It was in this company that I became
familiar with the work of Gozzi and Molière.
Years later, back in Mexico, Sabina Berman invited me to direct "Molière," a
splendid work she had written that brought the theatre's two rival genres face
to face: comedy and tragedy. The play represented a duel to the death
between the two most important French playwrights of the eighteenth century:
the light-hearted Molière against the pompous and solemn Racine. And when I
received that invitation I felt an intense spark of excitement, not only because I
was going to tackle that passionate and ancient war between two genres, but
because I would relive all of the experiences I had enjoyed with that vital,
original and nomadic form of theatre that I had discovered as a young man
with the Italian company.
As this story of Hidalgo and Molière lies in my hands today, I feel the same
sense of excitement. This is not only because I can once again set up a
platform in the middle of the street and play around with a type of theatre that
challenges the vices of society and its power structures through comedy, but
also because that discipline that I love so much, theatre, has also offered me
the opportunity to communicate directly by means of another discipline that I
picked up later on in life: cinema. And it may be just a whimsical idea, but
could it have been this form of theatre that served as one of the most decisive
influences in encouraging Hidalgo to challenge the ruling classes of his age and
change the country?
PRODUCTION INFORMATION:
Antonio Serrano is one of the most renowned stage directors in Mexico. He has
also enjoyed considerable success within the world of cinema. He directed the
stage version of "Sexo, pudor y lágrimas," a work he wrote himself and which
enjoyed considerable success with both the public and the critics. He later
brought this work to the cinema, a work entitled "Sex, Shame & Tears," which
was one of the highest ever-grossing films in the history of Mexican cinema.
Among his stage productions we might mention "Molière", a work by Sabina
Berman in which the French comic playwright comes face to face with Racine
(both dramatists whom Hidalgo brought to the stage in the late eighteenth
century). The work ran for a number of months and constituted one of the
grand theatrical events of the year 1998.
It was this considerable knowledge of the worlds of cinema and theatre, not to
mention directing and performing (an essential aspect of the script), that led
Astillero Producciones to think of Antonio.
About the proyect
A collection of 8 films that illustrate the work and thoughts of the most relevant
figures of Latin America’s emancipation. Their stories will not only include
historical facts but will also capture the human side and the ideology of each
liberator.
The word Liberators is owed to them not only because they fought for the
independence of their countries. Their revolutionary activity transcended to the
liberation
of
humanity,
which
began
in
their
own
nations.
Each hero shared a common idea that was to create one great American
motherland. This idea was based on two concepts that echo the news, in our
globalized world, today: Fraternity amongst people and free trade with the rest
of the world, founded on material, political, social and cultural progress.
Their dreams and failures as well as their defeats and triumphs were not always
compensated. Yet their fight has left a legacy of hope in a more equal world.
Through both their skills and their errors we will witness the making of the
American
diary.
The characters that we have chosen are closely linked to Spain. Not only due to
political circumstances or to their common language but also because of the
ideas they promoted on both sides of the Atlantic and their work, which was
and
still
is
decisive
for
our
history.
Each film will not only convey the historical facts and biographies but will
penetrate in each character, bringing us closer to them on an emotional level.
Each story will be based on the following:
 Literature. The point of view of a writer of the time
 Popular legends on the character that has endured generation after
generation
 A possible fictional situation they might have lived – always based on
objective facts
 Their own writings
Elements of fiction will be used to tell the life and thoughts of each character so
this collection of films will lean more toward drama rather than a historical
documentary,
thus
creating
8
feature
length
films.
Each film will be:
 Shot in the country of origin of each liberator
 Acted by professional actors
 Shot by the best directors in each country
Wanda Films (José María Morales) and Lusa Films (Sancho Gracia) will be
the producers together with co-producer Television Española, who will premiere
each film in Spain on television. In Latin American and the rest of the world,
each film will be distributed in cinemas as well as all the main national and panAmerican television channels.