Back in February, I said that Riviera Maya's 2014 lineup was bloody amazing, after it was revealed that the festival was premiering in Mexico some of the year's most anticipated films.
As of today, few Riviera Maya selected films have been picked up for theatrical distribution in Mexico and only two have been actually released (Nymphomaniac and Why Don't You Play In Hell). The rest remain practically unseen, hence the fact that Mexico City's Cine Tonalá is hosting a little Riviera Maya exhibition is really good - and surprising - news for those who didn't travel to the festival (like myself).
Cine Tonalá's "RMFF Summer" season is formed by a total of ten films, with only one screening per movie. It kicks off on Friday, July 25, with the first official Mexico City screening of Matsumoto Hitoshi's R100, and ends on Sunday, August 3.
Highlights include the Russian black-and-white three-hour epic Hard To Be A God (also premiering in the city), the Mexican The Hamsters, Lech Kowalski's latest doc Holy Field Holy War, and of course R100. There are also a couple of four-hour-long efforts (Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision and 'Til Madness Do Us Part) that probably won't be programmed elsewhere, for obvious reasons.
This is the complete schedule for "RMFF Summer" (a ScreenAnarchy review included if possible):
R100 (dir. Matsumoto Hitoshi, Japan) - July 25 (5 PM)
History of Fear (dir. Benjamin Naishtat, Argentina-Uruguay-Germany-France) - July 25 (7 PM)
Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision (dir. Edgar Reitz, Germany-France) - July 26 (5:30 PM)
Hard To Be A God (dir. Aleksey German, Russia) - July 27 (8 PM)
The Hamsters (dir. Gilberto González Penilla, Mexico) - July 29 (7 PM)
Diego Star (dir. Frédérick Pelletier, Canada-Belgium) - July 30 (5 PM)
Holy Field Holy War (dir. Lech Kowalski, Poland-France) - July 31 (7:30 PM)
40 Days of Silence (dir. Saodat Ismailova, Netherlands-Uzbekistan-Germany-France) - August 1 (5 PM)
'Til Madness Do Us Part (dir. Wang Bing, Japan-France-Hong Kong) - August 2 (5 PM)
Heights (Gabriel Nuncio, Mexico) - August 3 (6 PM)
Note: "RMFF Summer" will travel later to other venues in Mexico; La68 (in Mérida, Yucatán - August 7), Cineteca Tijuana (in Tijuana, Baja California - August), Cineteca Zacatecas (in Zacatecas - August), Cineteca Nacional (in Mexico City - September 7), Cineteca Nuevo León (in Monterrey - September), and Cine Morelos (in Cuernavaca - September/October). The programming for each of these venues is not yet available.