Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

make their own statements’. 13 In fact, according to Mexican actress Diana Bracho, the
state cinema became ‘la alternativa más digna en cuanto a temática y realización’, 14 and
with the introduction of new topics and approaches, a new market was opened as
well. 15 Another important achievement was the opening of a film school, the Centro de
Capacitación Cinematográfica (1975), and the Cineteca Nacional, a complex that
included screening theatres and an archive to conserve original reels of commercial
Mexican films as well as copies of some foreign films. 16
Thus, during Echeverría’s presidential term Mexican cinema enjoyed a
renaissance 17 with the release of critical and polemical work. However, some
filmmakers were still cautious about the issues they raised, and in order to avoid
censorship some avoided topics such as religion, the army or the official party (PRI). 18
Nonetheless, filmmakers enjoyed a period of creative freedom which sadly would not
last long. José López Portillo became president following Echeverría, and in another act
of nepotism, he appointed his sister, Margarita López Portillo, as the director of the
newly created Dirección de Radio, Televisión y Cinematografía. Margarita reversed
some of the previous policies including the closure of the Banco Cinematográfico. She
called for private finance to participate again in film production, and banned
controversial films by saying that all Mexican films should be ‘family-orientated’. She
invited foreign filmmakers to work in the country because she considered Mexican
filmmakers to be less talented. 19 Those who had enjoyed state support in the previous
sexenio ‘had to face lower budgets, stricter censorship, and tighter distribution
13
Mora, Mexican Cinema… p. 120.
14
Diana Bracho. ‘El cine mexicano: ¿y en el papel de la mujer… Quién?’, Mexican Studies / Estudios
Mexicanos, 2-1 (1985), 413-423 (p. 416).
15
Sergio Olhovich in Treviño, ‘The New Mexican Cinema’… p. 28.
16
Mora, Mexican Cinema… p. 114.
17
Noble, Mexican National… p 20.
18
Maciel, ‘Cinema and the state…’, p. 203.
19 Ibid., p. 208.
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