If your Spanish is above par then the 31st Guadalajara International Film Festival from Friday, March 4 to Sunday, March 13 offers a huge variety of movies to enjoy. Not only films from Latin America and Spain, but also other European nations and Japan, subtitled in Spanish. For those whose language skills are more challenged, the festival provides a decent, if eclectic, selection of English-language films, both features and documentaries. Below is a rundown of what’s on offer, plus venues and screening times. For the full festival program and ancillary activities, see www.ficg,mx.
Mr. Pig
(2015, USA/Mexico) Road movie directed by Diego Luna, shot in Jalisco, featuring Danny Glover and Maya Rudolph.
Saturday, March 5, 9 p.m. Teatro Diana.
Kicking Off
(2015, UK) Offbeat British film about two soccer fans that has been called a “British cult classic in the making,” compared to “Shaun of the Dead” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”
Wednesday, March 9, 9 p.m. Teatro Diana.
Chemsex
(2015, UK) In hidden basements, bedrooms and bars across London, “Chemsex” is a documentary that exposes frankly and intimately a dark side to modern gay life.
Sunday, March 6. 8:30 p.m. Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet. Tuesday, March 8. 8 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 9.
Departure
(2015, UK/France) An otherwise nuclear family unravels in the South of France.
Sunday, March 6. 3:50 p.m. Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet. Monday, March 7. 6 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 9.
Tab Hunter Confidential
(2015, USA) The story of matinee idol Tab Hunter from teenage stable boy to closeted Hollywood star of the 1950s.
Saturday, March 5. 8:30 p.m. Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet. Sunday, March 6. 6 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 9. Tuesday. March 8, 3:30 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 9.
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party
(2015, USA) 24 hours at the 17th birthday pool party of preacher’s kid Henry Gamble.
Saturday, March 5. 8:10 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 9. Sunday, March 6, 2 p.m. Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet. Wednesday. March 9, 6 p.m. Centro Cultural Refugio.
Those People
(2015, USA) On Manhattan’s gilded Upper East Side, a young gay painter is torn between an obsession with his infamous best friend and a promising new romance with an older foreign pianist.
Saturday, March 5, 6:05 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 9. Sunday, March 6, 10 p.m. Mercado Mexico. Monday. March 7, 2 p.m. Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet.
Women He’s Undressed
(2015, Australia) A documentary about the life of the Australian costume designer and three time Oscar winner Orry-Kelly.
Saturday, March 5. 10:10 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 9. Tuesday, March 8, 2 p.m. Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet.
Hellboy
(2004, USA) Guillermo del Toro’s classic about a demon, raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, who grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.
Saturday, March 5. 3 p.m. Cineopolis Centro Magno 3. Sunday, March 6, 8 p.m. Cineopolis Centro Magno 3.
Iona
(2015, UK) Iona takes her teenage son to the holy island where she was born so they can hide from a violent crime. As her son seeks forgiveness for what he has done Iona comes to terms with her loss of faith.
Monday, March 7. 6:15 p.m. Cinepolis Tolsa 4. Wednesday, March 9, 2 p.m. Cineopolis Centro Magno 4. Thursday. March 10, 5:15 p.m. Cineopolis Centro Magno 4.
Coconut Hero
(2015, USA) In the middle of Nowheresville lives 16-year-old Mike who wants out of his crappy life - permanently! Spending his time devising ways to do himself in, he considers the fatal brain tumor in his head as a godsend.
Wednesday, March 9, 2 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 2. Thursday. March 10, 6:30 p.m. Cineopolis Centro Magno 2.
Steal Big Steal Little
(1995, USA) Ruben and Robby are twin brothers, adopted by Mona, one of the wealthiest - and most eccentric – women in Santa Barbara. With Andy Garcia, Alan Arkin.
Sunday, March 6. 3:15 p.m. Cinepolis Tolsa 4. Monday. March 7, 2 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno 6.
How to change the world
(2015, UK) In 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world’s imagination. Using never before seen archive that brings their extraordinary world to life, this film tells the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.
Monday, March 7, 11 a.m. Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet. Thursday, March 10, 6 p.m. Alianza Francesa.
Landfill Harmonic
(2015, USA) Kids living in a slum built on a landfill in Paraguay create an orchestra made of trash, The Recycled Orchestra, and tour the world, finally realizing their wildest dream: to play with the heavy metal band, Megadeth.
Friday, March 4, 8 p.m. Cinépolis Centro Magno. Tuesday, March 8, 6 p.m. Alianza Francesa. Saturday, March 12, 4 p.m. Cinepolis Centro Magno.
Racing Extinction
(2015, USA) A documentary that follows undercover activists trying to stave off a man-made mass extinction.
Saturday, March 5. 4 p.m. Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Thursday. March 10, 6 p.m. Centro Cultural Refugio. Sunday, March 7, 6 p.m. Alianza Francesa.