Ever since Amores Perros confidently exploded on to our screens in 2000, Mexican movies have been at the forefront of all that's hip and exciting in modern cinema.
Narrated with passion and fearsome amounts of energy, audacious director Alejandro González Iñárritu's searing tale featuring three interconnected stories embedded within different strata in Mexico City life (Sat, Sep 13 and 23) also happened to star every arthouse cinema-loving lady's favourite eye candy, Gael García Bernal.
A dedicated NFT tribute to Bernal's screen work forms part two of this season in October. Meaning that although part one is called Feel The Heat... Mexican Cinema Now, it doesn't have to go straight for the boil with recent hot box office hits such as Y Tu Mamá También (Oct 1 and 16) and The Motorcycle Diaries (Oct 7 and 11) but can transport you far more fascinatingly back as far as the 1930s, where, bolstered by the invention of sound, Mexico was leading the charge of Spanish-language film production with lavish productions such as 1936's ¡Vámonos Con Pancho Villa! (Fri and Mon), a stirring and cruel tale of the farmers' revolution.
Thanks to state subsidy, the homegrown industry continued to flourish during the 1940s, with dark social dramas including 1949's Salón Mexico (Sep 17, 22, and 30), Emilio Fernandez's noir narrative of Mexican cabaret dancers. And the establishment of the country's first film school in 1963 created a generation of independent talent, including familiar names such as Alfonso Cuarón and Devil's Backbone director Guillermo del Toro, the latter represented here by his elegantly cinematic 1993 vampire film Cronos (Tue and Sep 26). A must for anyone wanting to bite deeper into one of the globe's most vibrant cinema trends.
Tonight until Sep 30, National Film Theatre, South Bank SE1, various times, £8.60, £6.25 concs. Tel: 020 7928 3232. www.bfi.org.uk/nft Tube: Waterloo/Embankment
