Paper short abstract:

The zero hour of the contemporary Mexican state is the Revolution, this paper considers how the foundation of the modern nation has been commemorated through film festivals.

Paper long abstract:

Film festivals are often narrowly defined closely following the model of the so-called A-list, such as Cannes, Toronto and Berlin. These provide significant opportunities for filmmakers and producers to lay out their stall or garner publicity for their offerings. Such annual global marketplace gatherings have been well studied. What are neglected in this field are the event festivals that coalesce around a theme or historical commemoration, which are usually more local in flavour. An example of one recent event which helps complicate this picture of what a festival is took place in 2010 in Mexico City to commemorate the centenary of the Mexican Revolution. From September to November of that year the national film institute presented a film series that included a canonical selection of Mexican films alongside a number of international films that touched on similar themes. Thereby, they intersected the national and the global. Festival theory presupposes a global view. So, where does the national focus of such an event fit? When the national event draws on the international, where, then, does that leave the local? This paper will consider these questions and see how this commemoration can help expand the definition of what a festival is.