October 7 & 8 | Political commentary is baked into del Toro’s gothic ghost story, set at the end of the Spanish Civil War. After his father is killed in battle, Carlos arrives at the rural Santa Lucia School, an orphanage haunted by secrets and shadows. Stylish and atmospheric, in THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE what can be clearly seen is far more dangerous than what lurks in the dark.

Awards & Nominations

Nominee - Saturn Award, Best Film, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
Winner - International Critics Award, Special Jury Prize, Gérardmer Film Festival

Cine Latine: Introducing Cine Latine the Film Center’s new program honoring Latin American films and filmmakers, with year-round showcases of established auteurs alongside emerging voices. This October 7-13, join us for five films from acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Each screening in this series will be preceded by a short film made by a local, Latine-identifying filmmaker. Join us for the full series, and on October 9, when we celebrate del Toro’s 58th birthday with drink specials! The full program of short films will be presented in full on October 13 at 8:15pm. Learn more about the short films below, and view the full series here.

CINE LATINE LOCAL SHORT FILM SHOWCASE

VIDEO POSTALES #1, #2, #4
2019-ongoing dir. Carolina González Valencia, USA, 4 min, 27 sec, In Spanish with English subtitles
Postales is a window that exposes the stillness, silence, and distance of the winter landscape. Postales blur the lines between still image and video to explore the dichotomy of physical, emotional, and interior/exterior spaces. An opportunity to bring two spaces together to create a third. A collaboration with sound artist and composer Gabriel Bolaños. Presented Friday, October 7 at 6:00PM before THE SHAPE OF WATER, Thursday, October 13 at 8:30PM before CRIMSON PEAK and Thursday, October 13 at 8:15PM. 

EL VAIVÉN 
2016, dir. Pablo Monterrubio, USA, Mexico, 24 min, 29 sec, No dialogue
Distraught at the realization that she is trapped and suffocated, a woman who works in a Mexico City fish market begins to transform into a fish. She escapes into the ocean, where she discovers the dark cyclical nature of her reality. Content consideration: fish processing imagery. Presented Friday, October 7 at 8:30PM before THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE, Sunday, October 9 at 6:15PM before NIGHTMARE ALLEY, and Thursday, October 13 at 8:15PM. 

FAR FROM THE DISTANCE WE SEE 
2019, dir. Mev Luna, USA, 8 min, 11 sec, In Spanish with English subtitles 
In this video essay narrated by the disembodied, posthumous voices of the artists’ male family members - their late father and their tío - the viewer is led on an oral history journey. Time is non-linear and cyclical, both ending and beginning with the strike of a match. The narrators of this work were the children of migrant laborers, picking cotton and okra as sharecroppers/tenant farmers through Navarro County, Texas in the 1940s - 50s. The brothers’ separate lives were both tethered to manual labor, from imprisonment and work as a prison farm laborer, to work in a hat factory. On a road trip, the filmmaker tries to situate their current self within these contexts, bridging memories and inaccessible sites through simulation technology and digital renderings. Presented Saturday, October 8 at 3:30PM before THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE, Tuesday, October 11 at 6:00PM before PAN’S LABYRINTH, and Thursday, October 13 at 8:15PM.

SPLIT ENDS 
2022, dir. Cookie Estés, USA, 10 min, 17 sec, In English and Spanish with English subtitles
From the festering wound of an impulsive decision is born Isa’s fear that her abuela is forgetting her. Any twenty-something could tell you they’ve chopped off their hair to regain agency in uncertain times. Instant regret: what if this exacerbates her dying abuela’s dementia? Instant defiance: her mother’s disapproving opinion is unwelcome. The harder Isa bites down on the spot of her tongue that tastes like remorse, the more decapitated hair crawls up her drain pipes; a manifestation of her complex anticipatory grief. No choice but to confront it. This horror is a commentary on Latine beauty standards - especially ones that concern women’s hair and are perpetuated by mothers. Presented Saturday, October 8 at 6:00PM before CRIMSON PEAK, Monday, October 10 at 8:00PM before NIGHTMARE ALLEY, and Thursday, October 13 at 8:15PM. 

EARLY AUTUMN 
2021, dir. Fernando Saldivia Yáñez, USA, 3 min, 57 sec, No dialogue
Poetic observation of non-human rhythms of life. Stopping for a brief moment on the routines of different beings, EARLY AUTUMN reflects on a world that runs outside human concerns, despite existing in "our" backyards. Presented Saturday, October 8 at 8:30PM before PAN’S LABYRINTH, Sunday, October 9 at 3:30PM before THE SHAPE OF WATER, and Thursday, October 13 at 8:15PM. 

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