2014
Born in 1914, during the Mexican Revolution, the story of Octavio Paz aligns with the one of the twentieth century, a century of constant movements and restructurings, of which the Mexican poet was witness and participant. Celebrating the centenary of his birth this documentary tackles his firsts 54 years of life, through the most important events in his public and private life. From his lonely childhood in the home of this intellectual grandfather Irineo Paz, to the years as ambassador of Mexico in India, including his days in Spain during the Civil War, in the United States and in Paris where he became part of the Andre Breton\\\'s surrealist movement. Joy and tragedy, love and death, success and pain forged the character and marked the poetical and essay work of Octavio Paz, whom at the time of the tormented summer of 1968 stood out as one of the greatest writers of hispanic-american literature.
2014
The Tlatelolco Massacre, on October 2th 1968, marked a watershed in Mexican history and in Octavio Paz\'s life. His resignation to the Mexican Embassy in India, after 25 years of diplomatic service, marks the beginning of a new chapter in the poets life, an era filled with political and intellectual activism, in which he displayed a vast journalistic and essayistic work that established him as an international opinion leader. Armed with his language and words, Paz led a fight for democracy for which he was admired and criticized. Through his magazines Plural and Vuelta, he gave voice to young authors and opened the doors for dialogue and freedom of expression, in a belittled and censored country. His prolific pen gave birth to great works that won multiple awards and international recognition, culminating in 1990 with the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature. A hundred years after his birth, Octavio Paz\'s voice still resonates in the thinking of Mexico and the world.
2014
Through its more than sixty books, Octavio Paz displayed a fascinating array of works through his eighty-four years of life. Since his high school years he was noted for his passionate poetic voice, which eventually matured and expanded to the field of essay and journalism, where he became one of its most brilliant exponents. Love, eroticism, politics, art, history and literature, among many other topics were explored by the pen of Octavio Paz. With works that go from \"The Labyrinth of Solitude\" to \"In Light of India\" Paz\'s work has been translated into dozens of languages, has been recognized worldwide and is now a essential reference for understanding the modern day Mexico. On the centenary of his birth, the work of Paz remains as current as in its years of publication and is subject to analysis, discussion and reflection, and deserves to be read by new generations. Octavio Paz\'s legacy lives in his words and the light of his thought shines intensely in the 21st century.
2014
The program is divided into three segments that intersperse over and over again: first, it shows a reading of various excerpts that show Paz\'s aesthetic theory, read by actress Cecilia Suarez, then a careful selection of footage in which the author discusses his work and his positions on poetry, and finally a series of sequences in which the central and final passages of the great autobiographical poem "Pasado en claro", are read by Cecilia Suárez and Paz himself, creating a resonant effect between the voice of the poet and the actress. The segments are linked and balanced by a series of musical sequences that show Paz\'s portraits at different ages and evocative images of his work, reaffirming a more intimate dimension of the author.
2014
A documentary dedicated to this important event that took place between April and November 1914 and changed the life of the Veracruz port forever. Here we reveal the historical background of the occupation, in the context of the government of Victoriano Huerta in Mexico and Woodrow Wilsons' in the United States, the complexity of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the position that the American colony had manifested through the press about the revolutionary governments. In addition to the timely account of the battle which took place on April 21st, 1914, the program highlights the way in which the people of Veracruz joined to fight against the Americans during seven months, inheriting a long list of injuries, deaths and heroes.
Wed, Jun 18, 2014
"The poet is an ordinary citizen who, quite often, uses a secret weapon that can shoot tremendous love poems in praise of our proud past or horrific present in a world gone mad." That is how Efraín Huerta defined his job. Poet and journalist born a hundred years ago, who practiced a writing full of humor, spontaneity and eroticism. Author of the "Poemínimos", a series of comic anti poetic maxims that have been adopted by popular speech and dozens of newspaper articles and poems that reflect their social, literary and political commitment to a country in constant crisis and transformation.
2014
Located in the geographical center of the country, the city of Zacatecas is famous for its beautiful pink stone buildings, and for have witnessed the bloodiest battle of the Mexican Revolution. It was here where a hundred years ago, 22,000 men of the Northern Division under General Francisco Villa annihilated the Federal Army, freeing the way of the Constitutionalist Army to the nation's capital. For the history of Mexico, the Battle of Zacatecas was a definite step in the restoration of law and order lost in the Decena Trágica (Ten Tragic Days). For Zacatecas' conservative society, however, marked the trade of their values for new ones, which entered certainly in a violent manner into the modern history of the Nation.
2014
Over time, the ancient cultures of Mexico developed culinary traditions based mainly on corn, as well as the local flora and fauna, forging civilizations of great gastronomic refinement. On the legacy of indigenous cuisine, the Spanish conquest enabled a long period of exchange of products and techniques from all continents. At the end of the 19th century, the Mexican mestizo cuisine had its own personality and was a synthesis of all the cuisines of the world.
2014
At the beginning of the 20th century Mexican cuisine moved into new scenarios that transformed it forever. Processed foods and household appliances, and the entrance of women into the labor market, made possible a different lifestyle which simplified the culinary practices and favored saving time. Today, Mexican cuisine is determined to forge its own contemporary identity, from the many traditions that compose it. Until that happens, it has endorsed the slow cooking movement, to retrieve the old pleasure to prepare and taste food, protect the environment and dignify the life of those who make it possible.
2014
Born in Coahuila territory and death in the state of Puebla, Ignacio Zaragoza and Venustiano Carranza were tough Norsemen, molded in the constant struggle against the Apache threat, and distrustful of politics coming from the Capital. Zaragoza, brilliant military, and Venustiano, a sharp politician left the North to head national movements, that despite historical distance, defended the legal order, sovereignty and dignity of Mexicans. The battles waged by Zaragoza and Carranza are not a thing from the past, they are fought today along and across our nation.
2014
The writer José Revueltas was imprisoned for participating in the 1968 student movement. Arthur Miller, Pablo Neruda, Julio Cortazar and Gabriel García Márquez demanded the government to release him. However, José Revueltas, considered by Octavio Paz as one of the purest men in Mexico, was sentenced to sixteen years. For Revueltas, the world was a prison but his mission was to free the man, just as his Marxist devotion dictated, a devotion triggered by the search of God.
2014
A hundred years ago the Constitutionalist Army -the origin of current Mexican Army-, played a decisive role in returning the country loss legality at the hands of the usurper President Victoriano Huerta. In a difficult process, those revolutionary militias acquired the values of professionalism and institutional loyalty that have distinguished it during its long history. Today, the Mexican Army is similar to it predecessor, but is also different; it maintains its popular roots and its desire to contribute to a freer and more fair country, but is distinct for its educational solidity and its attachment to democratic values that distinguish Mexico in the 21st century.
2014
Today Mexican consumers have become more demanding about the food they buy, prepare and eat daily. But not only consumers have become more demanding; the national and international markets today demand healthier, safer and more quality food to producers. This has led many businessmen to make efforts to be competitive through so-called "best practices" throughout the production chain, and through supervision and certification of their industrial processes. Among government agencies associated with this task, the SENASICA (National Service for Food Sanity, Safety and Quality) has the important mission to outreach producers and consumers to strengthen the new sanitary culture that Mexico needs.
2014
Eight decades ago a small publishing house founded by Daniel Cosío Villegas (then aged 36) was proposed to translate and edit books on economics for the first students of this discipline in our country. Thereafter, with the support of the Mexican government, the Fondo de Cultura Económica was opened to all subjects of knowledge, and went beyond national borders to become a key publisher of Spanish language. Today, with a catalog of nearly ten thousand titles, and a rightfully won prestige throughout Hispanic America, the Fondo de Cultura Económica prepares to meet the challenges that are changing books and readers in the 21st century.
2014
For decades farmers and biologists have sought ways to reduce pesticide use in agriculture. An effective response to this problem has been the Biological Control, a technique that consists in opposing the insect pest natural enemy, also called "beneficial insect." By the Biological Control is now possible not only to reduce the use of pesticides, but avoid economic devastation created by certain pests, with all job losses it entails. In our country the SENASICA (National Service for Food Sanity, Safety and Quality) is responsible for conducting cutting-edge research on biological control, as well as the mass production of this "beneficial insects" and its distribution to farmers.