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

around the world. 45 It is considered as one of the first New Mexican Cinema films, but
that is another story.
Tívoli (1974). This film was shot in 1974, and one year later, when it was released, the
Mexican film industry was at its height. Theatres had been refurbished so that a sense of
dignity was restored, the cost of cinema tickets had begun to rise after a price freeze so
that filmmakers had more resources, and a film did not need to reach a specific return in
its first weeks in order to keep showing. 46
The director was Alberto Isaac, a young multi-talented director. He was a
swimmer and represented Mexico in two Olympic Games; he was also a school teacher,
a journalist, a cartoonist and a script writer. 47 Isaac had already proved his talent when
his first film En este pueblo no hay ladrones won second place in the First Experimental
Cinema Competition in 1965. 48 Afterwards, he was entrusted to make a documentary
about the Mexico City Olympic Games in 1968, and two years later he made another
documentary focused on the World Cup that took place in Mexico that year. Before
Tívoli he had directed other films including the internationally-acclaimed film El Rincón
de las Vírgenes (1972).
Tívoli benefited from the financing of the recently created Conacine, which is
evidence of government interest to support artistic, socially-concerned cinema. 49 The
film is set in 1950s Mexico City, and, though a banner at the beginning warns the
audience that all the scenes and characters are fictional and that ‘cualquier semejanza
45
The Internet Movie Database, Como agua para chocolate, [ 1
October 2011]
46
García Riera, Historia Documental… 17: 1974-1976, p. 9.
47
Ciuk, Diccionario de directores… p. 413 and ‘ISAAC Ahumada Alberto’,
[29th
August 2011]
48
King, Magical Reels… p. 133.
49
García Riera, Historia documental… 17: 1974-1976, p. 7.
173