Lola

The director of Danzón and Without a Trace, María Novaro is Mexico’s most renowned female filmmaker. Lola, her 1989 debut, won Mexico’s Ariel Award for Best First Feature and Best Screenplay, and also won prizes at the Berlin and Havana festivals. “A small but impressive film about the relationship between a mother and daughter . . . Lola explores new territory in depicting the fragile world of an imperfect modern woman, one who must fend for herself and daughter in the absence of the traditional family unit. As a backdrop, post-earthquake Mexico City appears as fragile and wounded as its inhabitants . . . Lola (Leticia Huijara), a single mom abandoned by her rock musician lover, lives her marginal life as best she can selling irregular-sized clothing on the streets of Mexico City. She and others stay only one step ahead of the police, whose frequent raids attempt to clean the sidewalks of unlicensed vendors . . . [With] lush lensing by Rodrigo Garcia [who also shot Danzón] . . . Lola remains a significant first film” (Variety). Colour, 35mm, in Spanish with English subtitles. 92 mins.