July 8, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth announces
Festival de la Risa
August 6 - 15

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is pleased to join with the Lone Star Film Society and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas in presenting a celebration of Mexican culture and light hearted cinema.

Featuring films, lectures, discussions, live music, and gourmet Mexican cuisine, this festival is a part of the Mexico 2010 Celebrations that are taking place this year in Dallas / Fort Worth to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Independence and the Centennial of the Revolution of Mexico.

Film tickets are $8.50/$6.50 for Modern members and Lone Star Film Society members. Tickets go on sale at the Modern two hours prior to show time. Members of Reel People at the Modern and Lone Star Film Society members may purchase tickets in advance by calling 817.840.2154 or the Modern Information Desk 817.738.9215. Full festival ticket packages are available for advance purchase at $50/$40 for Reel People or Lone Star Film Society members.

Friday, August 6

5–8 pm First Friday at the Modern with a Mexican flair!
In the Grand Lobby enjoy a festive cocktail from the cash bar and dance to the exciting salsa sounds of Mi Son Mi Son Mi Son. With traditional Cuban instrumentation Mi Son, Mi Son, Mi Son (Denton, TX) celebrates Latin music from such areas as Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

5–8 pm Café Modern is open for dinner. Reservations are no longer necessary, but are available for parties of 5 or more. Enjoy Café Modern favorites from the daily menu as well as several gourmet Mexican specials. For dinner reservations and information, call 817.840.2157.

8 pm Welcome, introduction and screening of Ahí está el Detalle (You’re Missing the Point), 1940. In a wacky case of mistaken identity, a bum is treated as a long lost wealthy brother. This is comic legend Cantinflas at his best! Starring Cantinflas, Joaquín Pardavé, Sara García, and Sofía Álvarez. 112 minutes. Spanish with English subtitles.

Filmed during the golden age of the cinema of Mexico, this is generally considered the best of Cantinflas' films. The film was directed by Juan Bustillo Oro and it is based largely on Bustillo's experience as a pro bono lawyer at the Belén Jail. The film was completed in only three weeks and much of the story was driven by Cantinflas' improvisation.

Saturday, August 7

11am–2 pm Café Modern open for lunch offering a Mexican-inspired daily special.

*3:30 pm Lecture

5 pm Introduction and screening of A que Tiempos Señor Don Simón. A young widow and her friend decide to attend a "men’s only’’ theater revue. It is there that she becomes convinced that her boyfriend is cheating on her. 102 minutes. Spanish with English subtitles. Starring Joaquín Pardavé, Arturo de Córdova, Miguel Mapy Cortés, and Anita Blanch.

Sunday, August 8

Noon–2 pm Music in Lobby ¡¡MARIMBA¡¡
The group performs the traditional music of Chiapas, Mexico using Mexican marimbas (or Zapotecanos), bass and percussion.

2 pm Introduction and screening of Teatro del Crimen (Crime Theater), 1957
German Valdes, better known as “Tin Tan” was second only to Cantinflas as the most popular comic actor in Mexican films of the 1940s and ’50s. Inside the theater “El Roble”, an assassin is obsessed with a Cuban dancer. This is a suspense-comedy that pays homage to The Phantom of the Opera. This movie takes advantage of the story to include musical performances by various Mexican stars from the Mexican Cinema’s Golden Era.

4 pm Introduction and screening of Modisto de Señoras (Ladies Dressmaker), 1969. Mauricio Garcés, Mexico’s eternal Don Juan, portrays a successful fashion designer who seduces married women while he pretends to be gay in order to avoid arousing suspicion among his clientele’s husbands. 85 minutes. Spanish with English subtitles. Starring Mauricio Garcés, Armando Acosta, Patricia Aspíllaga, and René Barrera.

Friday, August 13

6 pm Introduction and screening of Santitos (Little Saints),. 2000
“Springall deftly weaves the film’s most dramatic moments with lighthearted comedy, and the result may be Mexico's best film in years.” Joseph Trevino, LA Weekly. Magic realism and comedic-melodrama swirl together in Springhall’s hagiographic tale about grief, faith and desire. A pious widow uses magic to try and locate her lost and presumed dead daughter in this 1999 winner of the Sundance Latin American Cinema Award. Spanish with English subtitles. Starring Dolores Heredia, Demián Bichir, Alberto Estrella.

8 pm Encore screening of Santitos (Little Saints), 2000

Saturday, August 14

11 am–2 pm Café Modern open for lunch offering a Mexican-inspired daily special.

2 pm Introduction and screening of Alamar (To the Sea),, 2009
Pedro González-Rubio has found a documentary subject and turned it into a lovely, modest, and sweet fiction of the real world. In a place miles away from the complexities of urban living, a father introduces his son to a world of simple pleasures, hard work, and the grandeur of nature. In this emotionally touching and visually stunning ode to paternal love, he showcases the bond between father and son during a stay in Banco Chinchorro, Mexico, a wildlife sanctuary home to the second largest barrier reef in the world. 73 minutes. Spanish with English subtitles. Starring Jorge Machado and Natan Machado Palombini.

3:30 pm Lecture

5 pm Encore screening of Alamar (To the Sea), 2009

Sunday, August 15

2 pm Introduction and screening of Rudo y Cursi (Rough and Corny), 2008
“Soccer provides the backdrop for this rowdy, ramshackle comedy about two brothers—Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, reunited after the terrific Y Tu Mamá También—who find themselves opponents on the playing field. Luna and García Bernal display the kind of chemistry that makes you overlook the clichés in the script by first-time director Carlos Cuarón. Sometimes good-natured fun is enough.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. Rated R: for pervasive language, sexual content and brief drug use; 103 minutes; Spanish with English subtitles. Starring Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Guillermo Francella, and Dolores Heredia.

4 pm Encore Screening of Rudo y Cursi (Rough and Corny), 2008

The Modern Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the following for allowing the screening of their films.
Juan Carlos Cuevega, Consul General of Mexico in Dallas
Adolfo Ayuso Audry, Cultural Attaché Consulate General Dallas
Televisa S. A. de C. V. and Fundación Cultural Televisa

*TBA, tentative

CAFÉ MODERN
Lunch
Tue–Fri 11 am–2:30 pm
Sat 11 am–3 pm
Sunday Brunch 11 am–3 pm
Coffee bar
Serving Starbucks coffee, snacks, sandwiches, beer, wine, and dessert
Tue–Sat 10 am–4:30 pm
Tue (Feb–Apr) 5–7 pm
Sunday 11 am–4:30 pm
For reservations, call 817.840.2157
Menus are available online at www.themodern.org/cafemodern.html

LOCATION
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
Telephone 817.738.9215
Toll-Free 1.866.824.5566
Fax 817.735.1161
www.themodern.org

Museum Gallery Hours
Tue 10 am–5 pm
Sun 11 am–5 pm

General Admission Prices (includes special exhibition)
$4 for students with ID and seniors (60+)
$10 for adults ($13+)
Free for children 12 and under
Free for Modern members
Free every Wednesday and the first Sunday of every month

The Museum is closed Monday and holidays including New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas.

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