499
Mexico / 2021 / 79 min. / Documentary / Texas Premiere
To reflect on the 500-year anniversary of the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 2021, director Reyes offers a bold hybrid cinema experience exploring the brutal legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico. Through the eyes of a ghostly conquistador, the film recreates Hérnan Cortés’ epic journey from the coasts of Veracruz to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, the site of contemporary Mexico City. As the anachronistic fictional character interacts with real-life victims of Mexico’s failed drug wars and indigenous communities in resistance, the filmmaker portrays the country’s current humanitarian crisis as part of a vicious and unfinished colonial project, still in motion, nearly five hundred years later.
Provocative, unique, and strikingly cinematic, 499 mixes non-fictional and performative elements with elements of the road movie to show how past traumas continue to affect contemporary reality. While linking these seemingly disparate histories of violence, the film confirms Reyes as one of the most potent voices in American independent cinema.
About The Director
Mexican director Rodrigo Reyes has won awards for his films around the world,screening at Morelia International Film Festival, BFI London and the Museum of Modern
Art. His work has received the support of The Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE), Sundance and Tribeca Institutes as well as many others. His films have screened on America ReFramed and Netflix, and he is a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim and Creative Capital Awards. In 2020, his latest film, 499, won Best Cinematography at Tribeca Film Festival, the Special Jury Award at Hot Docs as well as the Special Jury Prize at EBS International Documentary Film Festival and the Golden Frog for Best Docudrama at Energa Camerimage.
