Cine Las Americas Media Arts Center presents - Sin, Scandal and Song: Extravagant Melodramas of Mexico.

Extravagant Melodramas of Mexico. The first film in the series is AVENTURERA (The Adventuress), which will screen on September 15th at the Mexican-American Cultural Center's (MACC) Grand Opening Celebration at 8PM.

The three films in this series were some of the most popular Mexican films of their time and have seldom been screened theatrically since their initial release.

The films are directed and photographed by the great masters of Mexican national cinema. Musical interludes are important highlights of each film, particularly in AVENTURERA and VICTIMAS DEL PECADO which are cabaret musicals featuring some of the most loved Latino musical acts of all time such as Pedro Vargas, Ana Maria Gonzalez, Los Angeles del Infierno, Perez Prado and his Orchestra, Trio Los Panchos, Ray Montoya and his Orchestra, Tona La Negra and Rita Montaner.

Free admission. All screenings will take place at the Mexican-American Cultural Center
600 River Street Austin, TX 78701-4218. Titles and further information follow:

Sin, Scandal and Song: Extravagant Melodramas of Mexico

AVENTURERA (THE ADVENTURESS)
Directed by Alberto Gout
Mexico, Drama, Film Noir, Cabaret Musical, 1950
101 minutes, 35mm, Black and White
In Spanish with English subtitles

Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 8PM
Free admission. Mature audiences.

Released in 1950 and produced in 1949, AVENTURERA is one of the most popular Mexican films ever made. It is extravagant melodrama, popular entertainment, film noir, cabaretera (cabaret musical), and a revenge film all in one glorious effort. The film has seldom been screened theatrically since its initial release.

Starring the immortal Ninon Sevilla, who Variety called "a cross between Rita Hayworth and Carmen Miranda," Sevilla plays Elena Tejero, a middle-class girl from Chihuahua who
witnesses her mother's affair and her father's suicide, leaves Chihuahua for Ciudad Juarez and tries to make it and fails as a waitress and secretary, is sold into prostitution, and is transformed into a nightclub sensation - all in the first twelve minutes of the film.

VICTIMAS DEL PECADO (VICTIMS OF SIN)
Directed by Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez
Mexico, Mexico, Drama, Film Noir, Cabaret Musical, 1951 Spanish with English subtitles
90 minutes, 35mm, Black and White
In Spanish with English subtitle

Thursday, September 20 at 7:30PM
Free admission. Mature audiences.

Cabaret dancer Violeta (Ninon Sevilla) rescues an abandoned baby from a garbage can in Mexico City's red-light district. She decides to raise the child, a decision that puts her at odds with her pimp (Rodolfo Acosta.) A rival club owner (Tito Junco) falls in love with Violeta and offers to help. Prostitutes, pachucos and dizzying dance sequences.

LA MUJER DEL PUERTO (THE WOMAN OF THE PORT)
Directed by Arcady Boytler
Mexico, 1934, in Spanish with English Subtitles
76 minutes, 35mm, Black and White

After her father dies and she discovers her lover's indiscretions, Rosario, played by the exquisite Andrea Palma, resorts to prostitution. Sailor Alberto Venegas (Domingo Soler) saves her from an attack on the docks. She takes Alberto home for an erotic encounter and true love blossoms. Suddenly a terrible secret from their past comes to light. One of the first movies with recorded sound produced by the Mexican film industry.

Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 7:30PM
Free admission. Mature audiences.