El futuro más acá

El futuro más acá is a film series that brings together a selection of Mexican films that between 1945 and 1980 explored science fiction themes from a point of view very different from that of the discourse dominating the genre in the United States.

In the second half of the 20th century, Hollywood produced hundreds of science fiction films in which the hero, the personification of the establishment, fought for the good of society and along the way reinforced the idea of progress, the wonders of technology and paranoia of people from different places. This trend had a very special impact on Mexican cinematography, but instead of replicating the same old story time after time, this type of cinema made use of three three elements – fighters, comedians and lovely ladies – to reinvent the genre.

Not so much an expression of real interest in possible future worlds, these directors found in science fiction a way to recontextualise classic scenarios, a pretext for putting their favourite characters into action in a whole new setting. Mexico used a tone very different from the solemnity of Hollywood’s male conquerors, since in its films it is fun-loving women who arrive from another galaxy, as in Planet of the Female Invaders, by Alfredo B. Cervenna (1965), or a troupe of sexy intruders searching among the local rancheros for a stud who can perform the tasks necessary for reproduction, as occurs in Ship of Monsters, by Rogelio A. González (1959). These works can be considered something of an ‘accidental’ satire of Hollywood’s claims to be the representative of humanity. Creations such as these form the basis of the film series El Futuro más Acá, First Festival of Mexican Science Fiction Film, which was screened for the first time in November of 2003, in Mexico City.

The event at Museo Reina Sofía includes a total of six films and two round tables including both Mexican and Spanish speakers, offering a forum for discussion about this cinema and its particular vision of the future.