Screening of film in Nahuatl (subtitled in English) with director José Luis Matías Alonso
Saturday, November 18, 11:00 am
CHICAGO (October 30, 2006) - The Newberry Library, a world renowned, independent research facility with one of the largest collections of Colonial Mexican materials in the United States, is hosting a free film screening of Atltzatzilistli/Praying for Water, followed by a discussion with director José Luis Matías Alonso.
Join the Newberry on Saturday, November 18 at 11:00 am to view the 18-minute film and to learn more about the persistence and vitality of Aztec culture. Following the screening, Matías will discuss why indigenous peoples - accustomed to being filmed by outsiders - have taken up the camera to record their lives and culture from within their communities. Matías, a Nahua (Aztec) from Guerrero, Mexico, will speak in Spanish with an English interpreter.
In Atltzatzilistli, the people of the Nahua community of Acatlan, Guerrero, Mexico, ask for rain for the annual harvest. Their ritual performance includes "tiger fights," masked boxing matches, Tlacololeros, who imitate thunder and lightning, and Cotlatlastin, who invoke the wind and water-laden clouds. The film is in Nahuatl with English subtitles.
The screening of Atltzatzilistli complements the Newberry's fall exhibit - The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico. The free exhibit is open to the public through Jan. 13, 2007. The Newberry is located at 60 W. Walton Street. For more information, call (312) 255-3700.
Matìas will also present his film at 6:00 pm on November 20 at Erie Neighborhood House, 1347 W. Erie St., and on November 21 at 11:00 am at Blue Island Public Library, Blue Island, Illinois. This public program is partially supported by a grant from the Governor's International Arts Exchange Program of the Illinois Arts Council. Admission is free.
ABOUT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
The Newberry Library is an independent library open to the public for research and reference in the humanities. One of the largest independent research libraries in the United States, the Newberry holds an extraordinary collection of more than 1.5 million books, 5 million manuscript pages and 300 thousand historic maps. As one of the world's leading repositories of a broad range of books and manuscripts relating to the civilizations of western Europe and the Americas, the Library's mission is to acquire and preserve research collections of such materials, and to provide for and promote their effective use by a diverse community of users.