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5 x 5: SHORTS FROM THE MORELIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BY TRIBECA FILM INSTITUTE'S MEDIA ARTS FELLOWS at School of Visual Arts
Dime lo que sientes, Dir. Iria Gómez Conchiero (2004, 24 minutes): In the streets of downtown Mexico City, while waiting to leave for the United States, Micaela is surprised by the indifference and coldness she finds in the city. Trying to survive, she finds a new job, where she meets Julian, and with him another chance of love.
Los no invitados, Dir. Ernesto Contreras (2003, 25 minutes): After years of suffering a severe sleep disorder, Asunción Gómez goes to a specialist to help her discover not only the cause of her insomnia, but also the mission she has to fulfill.
Casi nunca pasa nada, Dir. Juan Carlos Martín (2005, 13 minutes): A young man wanders the streets in search of himself.
La caja de Yamasaki, Dir. José Manuel Cravioto (2006, 16 minutes): Diego’s whole world consists of time spent with his grandmother, his father, and his stepmother. When Diego meets Yamasaki, a magician, he makes one of the most important decisions of his life.
De raíz, Dir. Carlos Carrera (2004, 7 minutes): A confrontation between creation and intolerance.
Iria Gómez Concheiro was born in Mexico City in 1979. In 1999, she began to study cinema at Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico, during which time she took dramatic art and photography lessons. Throughout her six years at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, she participated in a verity of different projects.
Her first short film was "Memoria del Olvido", filmed in 16mm in 2001. After participating in a few other films, she made “Dime lo que sientes” (“Tell Me What You Feel”), finished in 35mm in 2006. “Dime lo que sientes” went to several international and national festivals, where it received several awards, including he Mexican Academy of Cinematography Award, the Signis Award in the Toulusse Film Festival, and the award for Best Short Film in the Ismalia Film Festival.
In 2004, she traveled to Rome were she worked on the cinematography of the short film “Tagglioneto”. Currently, she is working on the post-production of her documental “La Changa”, and on the development of the film “Asalto al Cine”.
Graduate of UNAM’s film school, Ernesto Contreras' first feature, Párpados azules (2007), receives the Best Iberoamerican Film and Screenplay awards of the XXII Guadalajara International Film Festival. He was competed in the 46 International Critic’s Week official selection of the 60 Cannes Film Festival. He received a Special Mention during the San Sebastián International Film Festival. In 2008, the Special Jury Award at Sundance and the Ariel to the Best First Feature. He is currently shooting a documentary on the rock band Café Tacvba.
Juan Carlos Martín is a graduate of Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (Film Training Center) in Mexico City and has been assistant director of several short and feature films. He is a renowned director of commercials and music videos, for which he has received several awards.
Juan Carlos is co-director of one of the 3 most important publicity production companies in Mexico. CASI NUNCA PASA NADA is his most recent production after his feature documentary GABRIEL OROZCO, which received the most important national film awards and was presented at some of the most respected film festivals abroad (Amsterdam, Toronto, San Francisco).
Juan Carlos is currently in the pre-production process of his second feature film.
A graduate of Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (University Center for Film Studies) José Manuel has participated in both national and international film festivals. His short film, “El charro misterioso,” received honorable mention in the Morelia Film Festival and also competed in Rotterdam. Recently, Manuel presented his thesis, “La caja de Yamasaki,” and also co-edited the film, “Párpados Azules” (Blue Eyelids). Manuel also just produced his first feature-length film, “Los últimos héroes de la península.”
Carlos Carrera was born in Mexico City in 1962. At the age of 13 he made his first work in super 8, since then he made various shorts, documentaries, comercials and full-length films. He studied communication at the Universidad Iberoamericana and filmmaking at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica. As a painter, he has participated in various group shows. He worked as an assistant director in theatre, and as an illustrator and cartoonist for the press and cinema. He made nine animated shorts such as El héroe (1994), which won the Palm d’Or for short films at Cannes. He also made five feature-length films: La Mujer de Benjamín (1990), La vida conyugal (1992), Sin remitente (1994), Un embrujo (1998) and recently El crimen del Padre Amaro, which was nominated in 2003 for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. His films have won more than 25 international prizes and have been shown in numerous international festivals.
He is currently part of Cucamonga Films, a company that produces commercials and documentaries, and he works as a film director for different companies. He lives and works in Mexico City.
Available Space: danscores by Ofelia Loret de Mola at City Hall Park
Ofelia Loret de Mola (choreographer) was born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico and moved to New York in 1995. In 2003, she established the NY based danscores by Ofelia Loret de Mola while completing her MFA in Choreography at Purchase College. Since then, danscores has worked in Spain, Kosovo, Mexico, and in New York at venues such as Joyce SoHo/Celebrate Mexico Now Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dancenOw/NYC at DTW, WAXworks at University Settlement, Wave Rising Series, the d.u.m.b.o. Dance Festival, The COOL NY Festival, The Puffin Room, and HERE Arts Center. She has choreographed for Theater under the Direction of Dean Irby, and was a speaker at Hunter College during their Exploring Opportunities. She recently completed a project commissioned by internationally known concert pianist Tian Jiang, a publicity campaign for Infiniti Cars representing Hispanic artists in the US, a fourth tour to Mexico and her second season at Joyce SoHo. She is Co-Founder and Curator of the annual Reverb Dance Festival, which takes place at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre. Her work has been reviewed by the New York Times, Gay City News, the Village Voice, CNN International, Telemundo, Fieldwork by Eva Yaa Asantewa and Por Esto! Mexico. As a performer she was member of the Wendy Osserman Dance Company and Aszure and Artists and performed in several venues in NYC, Canada and Jacob’s Pillow Festival.
Guest Musician
Chenrry (Gerardo Abreu) hails from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico and began his musical career at a very young age. He has welcomed a diverse group of musical concepts including alternative, rock, pop, electronic, jazz and experimental. In 2006, Chenrry was part of Jazz Band in Central College and toured Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. Currently he is a vocalist and guitarist for the project "Technicolor” which has toured in several states of Mexico. He has recorded four CD's and has been involved in the composition and production of each and every one. As a soloist, he brings an acoustic platform that imprints a fresh, nostalgic and melancholic sense to his melodies and lyrics.
Gaston Espinosa is a punk rock musician that lives in Cancun, Mexico. He started his career at age 15 with his first band "Comadreja". It was when the south of Mexico had little to none musical events that he started organizing performances. Currently, he plays the base and sings for his band "Niños Feos" which uses hard-core punk as base but allowing the influence from ska and rap. The lyrics often speak from personal and social issues, even a couple of songs of love and despair, basically anything present in his everyday.
http://danscores.com/
DaPuntoBeat at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater
DaPuntoBeat is a Mexico City based eight-piece band with eight years of history under their belt. Easy to digest but hard to forget, DaPuntoBeat is a high potency and explosive live act that combines rock, funk and electronic elements to unleash passions on the dance floor! In 2007 DBP recorded a full-length album entitled "Velodrom,” which was released under their own label Sonido Chivaltraco, and distributed by Musart in Mexico and iTunes and eMusic internationally. ‘Velodrom’ was also released in Spain by Actua Music in 2008. DPB also produced an album of remixes entitled Mexican 60s All Starts, in which they re-worked classic 1960s tracks by Angélica María, Alberto Vazquez and Manolo Muñoz.
DaPuntoBeat has participated in a number of international settings such as Festival Internacional de Benicassim (FIB), Spain 2001—where they performed along projects such as Stereo MCs, The Freestylers, Bentley Rhythm Ace, The avalanches, Orbital, The Juan Mclean, and Fat Boy Slim, among others— and at the Manifest, Mexico City 2005. In 2007, DPB toured throughout Mexico and also played packed venues such as The Delancey, Fontanas and 200-Orchard in Manhattan, before traveling to Stockholm, Sweden where they left a lasting impression.
DPB has big plans for 2008: First, to join acts such as Tricky, Death Cab for Cutie, La Casa Azul and Justice at FIB, where they have been invited for a second time and back to Sweden to participate in the Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg. The members of DaPuntoBeat plan to release a second album in late 2008.
www.dapuntobeat.com
FANDANGO! at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
The fandango is an ancient Mexican celebration that includes traditional music, dance and poetry. It is a particular mix of local indigenous influences combined with Afro-Caribbean and Spanish traits that came with the conquest of Mexico.
The word fandango comes from the African dialect of Mandinga and means ‘party.’ The fandango started its development in the early 1700’s and is still celebrated in the region of Sotavento that includes southern Veracruz, north of Oaxaca and parts of Tabasco.
Popoluca and Nahua indigenous living in the region before the arrival of the Spanish had their rituals for dance and music. Those rituals were drastically changed with The Conquest; fortunately that ritual atmosphere survived and it naturally blended in the fandango, becoming an essential part of the celebration.
The fandango nowadays is a colorful celebration where musicians, dancers, poets and the community gather around the dance platform to dance and sing sones jarochos.
Semilla is a collective of young Mexican musicians and dancers performing son jarocho, son huasteco and son de tarima in the New York City area. Hailing from diverse parts of Mexico, from Veracruz to Mexico City, Semilla focuses on the fandango, the traditional fiesta performed in these styles.
Semilla's members have traveled to different parts of Mexico, learning and performing. From encuentros in the huasteca, to fandangos in Tixtla, Veracruz and Mexico City, they received essential lessons on how to play and dance traditional sones.
Semilla started performing in 2001, pioneering Mexican son in New York. These days you may find the group playing at local parties, cantinas, or dancing clubs. They have also played at Lincoln Center's La Casita, Fandango de Tortugas at Central Park, Telemundo Canal 47, and WBAI radio. Every month since June 2005, Semilla has celebrated fandangos at East Harlem's Carlito's Cafe.
http://www.semillanyc.com
FRESA SALVAJE presents FACA + SONIDO DISCOYOACAN at The Delancey
Fresa Salvaje—New York's roving dance party with guest dj's from Mexico and Latin America—presents the New York debut of FACA (Valeria Leyva and Facundo Delgado), plus local Mexico City ex-pat Sonido Discoyoácan. Fresa Salvaje was started by Dulce Pinzón and Aldo Sánchez (DJ Papichulo) in the summer 2005. It has featured artists from Mexico and Spain such as Titan, Mexican Institute of Sound, María Daniela y su Sonido Lasser, Afrodita, Sonido Changorama, DJ Lasser Gun #1, Sonido Apokaliztin, La Prohibida, Zemmoa, Titán, Bachelor Sound Machin, Sonido Discoyoacán, Afrodyke and DJ Guaguis, and many others.
Blending local influences of Bariloche, Argentina and Tijuana, México, FACA is one of the most interesting projects from the “Bari-juana” local scene. FACA formed in 2002 when Valeria Leyva (Mexico) and Facundo Delgado (Argentina) met on the internet. The physical distance between them did not keep FACA from becoming a live act, and it didn’t take long before FACA not only shocked and delighted the local clientele in Tijuana, but also party-goers around México, the U.S., Germany and Colombia. In 2007, Valeria and Facundo finally met in person to play live shows, and released their formal debut, Mi Deporte Favorito. FACA’s sound blends a number of influences, including surf, garage and techno, and kitsch and retro iconography invade the due’s live shows.
Sonido Discoyoacán (a.k.a. fLP), the "one man sound system," originated during the mid-90's in Mexico City, where fLP began collecting records, CDs and tapes, steadily building an archive of select styles reflective of his eclectic sets. Known for his witty mixes that include vintage barrio beauties like mambo, cha cha cha, Mexican soap opera classics and wedding anthems, all intertwining seamlessly with 70s psychedelic, early punk, indie rock, electronic, mutant disco and Mexican pop.
www.myspace.com/fresasalvaje
GUTIERRITOS POP LOUNGE at Hecho en Dumbo
Named after the late 1950s Mexican TV series starring Rafael Banquells and the unsurpassed master of seduction Mauricio Garcés, Gutierritos Pop Lounge is the perfect late evening hang-out for abogángsters, flaneurs, writers, and music nerds. With music by Selector Monobichi and visuals by Celeste, Gutierritos Pop Lounge mixes the best in Mexican and Latin American rock and psychodelia, space age pop, ye-ye, lounge, mambo and northern soul.
LILA DOWNS with The Mariachi Academy of New York and Pistolera: SHAKE AWAY at The Town Hall
Lila Downs launches her new album Shake Away (official release: September 2, 2008), taking listeners on a journey that's both intensely personal and vividly universal. Recorded in New York and Mexico City, the songs range from the pointed "Minimum Wage" to the mystical "Silent Thunder" to a cover of Lucinda Williams' "I Envy The Wind" in English and Spanish ("Yo Envidio El Viento") versions.
Downs explains, "In the U.S, we've gone through a lot of fear. The idea was to heal, to 'shake away' the anger and hate. We also went through a lot of political trouble in my birthplace of Oaxaca, and sometimes we distance ourselves from the pain. We cannot forget or hide, but we must be positive. Since I was young, it’s important for me to bring different people together, race-wise and religion-wise."
Downs, born in Oaxaca, Mexico, is the daughter of Mixtec cabaret singer Anita Sánchez and Allen Downs, a Scottish/English-American art professor. She grew up in Oaxaca, California and Minnesota, where she graduated from the University of Minnesota in voice and anthropology. Much of her musical vision is anthropological in nature, as varied as the ancient and earthy cultures that nurtured her and continue to inspire. As a musical spirit guide, Downs is accompanied on the Shake Away musical journey by her longtime band, La Misteriosa, multi-cultural multi-instrumentalists who include Paul Cohen, her collaborator, producer and husband.
Her powerful persona, positive aura, and voice that ranges from dusky to penetrating caught Hollywood's attention. She played a role in the Salma Hayek film about Mexican artist (and Downs doppelganger) Frida Kahlo. She sang the soundtrack song "Burn It Blue," which was Oscar-nominated, and became the first Latina to perform at the Academy Awards telecast. She also captured a Latin Grammy in the Best Folk Album category for 2004's One Blood/Una Sangre. Precious as these experiences are, they are not the highlight of her career. To date, that would be The Festival of Sacred Music at the Hollywood Bowl, where Downs participated alongside luminaries including the Dalai Lama. "I sang in Mixtec, my mother's native language. There were so many Mixtec people in the audience in California who wash dishes, who cultivate the fields, and we got a standing ovation. It was the most intense moment in my life. I thought 'ok, I've done my job, I can die now.' It was an honor to have that connection."
It's a connection she strives to make every moment, succeeding admirably on Shake Away. As on previous albums, Downs also taps into the native Mesoamerican music of the Mixtec, Zapotec, Maya and Nahuatl cultures. The title track, in Spanish, "Shake Away (Ojos De Culebra)," (Eyes of the Snake) reaches back into the symbols in Olmec culture. "It's a metaphorical event, losing your skin. But I went to a place with Shamans who inject the venom in their body to become immune, a practice traced back to Pre-Columbian times," Downs explains. "Mexico also has an important African community--in the history of music in Latin America we owe so much to our African roots, yet people in the US might not know how important that is."
To bring her vision and songs to fruition, along with her seven-man band and producers Cohen, Aneiro Tano and Brian Lynch, Downs plays guitar and percussion. The band utilizes traditional instruments including accordion, harp and clarinet. The trumpet, trombone and tuba appear in several arrangements, bringing the sound somewhere between Mexico and New Orleans. In keeping with the spirit of connection, all writing, recording and performing is very collaborative: "Whoever plays with us becomes family."
http://www.liladowns.com
The Mariachi Academy of New York (MANY) is a community-led not-for-profit organization devoted to preserving the rich heritage of mariachi to youth in New York, and features musical instruments and elements from many cultural periods and regions of Mexico. MANY is proud to be the first representative of this tradition on the East Coast, and will be performing several songs with Lila Downs at Town Hall, paying tribute to the quintessential Mexican folk-derived musical tradition.
http://www.mariachiacademyny.org
Pistolera is a NYC-based band that defines the latin alt-folklorico genre. Drawing from traditional styles of Mexican music and fusing it with a pop-rock sensibility, the electrifying quartet features the Spanish lyric songs of vocalist and guitarist Sandra Lilia Velásquez, the driving accordion melodies of Maria Elena, and the unbeatable rhythm section of bassist Inca B. Satz and drummer Ani Cordero. Since the release of their debut album "Siempre Hay Salida" on November 7, 2006 the band has been featured in Rolling Stone Mexico, Billboard Magazine, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Latina Magazine, and El Diario,. and "Siempre Hay Salida" went to the Top 10 of the CMJ charts. The album was recorded and produced by Grammy-winner Charlie Dos Santos in Brooklyn and has guest appearances by members of Si*Se, Grupo Fantasma, Antibalas, and Slavic Soul Party. The band has toured in the USA, Europe and Mexico and will be releasing their sophomore album in the summer of 2008.
http://www.pistolera.net
LOS MÚSICOS DE JOSÉ at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater
Los Músicos de José creates powerful instrumental music similar to funk, directed at the feet, the gut and both hemispheres of the brain. It is fun and easy to dance to, yet it is also serious and searching.
José is not the lead singer of the band, nor the musical director or producer. The truth is, José doesn’t even play in the band—he is a friend of the band who enjoys its music.
The band, based in Mexico City, is a septet of drums, bass, guitar, trumpet, alto sax, percussion, piano and one more saxophone. Composed of close friends who started to play together in 1997 while they were in high school, the band has retained the fun-loving impulse of its high school days, and achieved greater technical sophistication as it has matured.
The music is difficult to catalogue since it’s not rock, jazz or proper funk. The most commonly used term is acid funk: a base of funky groove on which themes and improvisations are constructed. The songs are a series of unfolding developments that can entail abrupt changes of direction.
Los Músicos de José has played in International Festivals such as Puebla International Festival, Chihuahua International Festival, Sonora International Festival, and International Jazz Festivals in Mérida, Mexicali, and Mexico City. They also played at VIVE LATINO music fest in México City in 2007, and shared the stage with Groove Collective at Hard Rock Live Guadalajara in 2006.
Los Músicos de José is currently preparing its second album release, which will be available in Mexico in October 2008.
www.myspace.com/losmusicosdejose
www.losmusicosdejose.com.mx
NORVAK PODEROSO DEMENTE (THE POWERFUL MINDREADER) at Spiegelworld at South Street Seaport
Andrés Aguilar Larrondo (Original idea, writer, and performer) earned a Communication Sciences Degree at Anáhuac University in Mexico City. He also studied clown and comedy at the Clown College of the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus, and later performed as a clown with the circus, traveling to more than a hundred cities and acting in more than a thousand spectacles. In addition, he studied circus techniques at Space Catastroph in Brussels, Belgium and juggling at Gandini Juggling Project in London, United Kingdom. He has also studied clown technique under the guidance of Alex Navarro and Caroline dream.
In 1999, Andrés founded Risaterapia A.C., an organization that has had a huge impact on social well being in Mexico. Risaterapia trains volunteers in techniques to stimulate emotional and physical wellbeing and happiness, and to then applies these techniques to patients and relatives in pediatric hospitals. Currently Risaterapia has more than 400 volunteers, known as ‘laugh doctors,’ and visits approximately three thousand families every month.
Artús Chávez Novelo (Writer/director) studied Theater and Dramatic Literature at the Philosophy and Letters School of UNAM. He also studied clown at the Clown College of the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus and he later traveled with the circus for one year. He furthered his studies with a Masters degree in Theatre Direction, at Middlesex University in London that also included Thai traditional theater in Bangkok, and management and acting at the Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts, in Moscow.
Artús began his professional career as assistant director to Iona Weissberg (Opción Múltiple [Multiple Option], 1999) and to Martín Acosta (Hans Quehans, las Opciones de un Payaso [Hans Quehans, the Options of a Clown], 2000) and the British director Michael Fry (The Trumpet Major, 2004). He later directed: Sueño de una Noche de Verano (Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream, Iberoamericana University, 2002), Mistero Buffo of Darío Fó (Malta, 2005), y Dagas y Pociones (Daggers and Potions, Mexico 2005), an original adaptation of Shakespeare’s scenes. Recently he wrote and directed the clown show, La Gazetta (The Gazette) in Israel, and Norvak, Poderoso DeMente (Norvak The Powerful Of Mind reader) in Mexico, which he wrote in collaboration with Andrés Aguilar. Artus has also devoted time to giving clown performances and workshops in Mexico and other countries. Nowadays he is the Artistic Director of Nariz Roja y Compañía (Red Nose and Company), a branch of Risaterapia A.C., devoted to promoting happiness through clown shows and workshops.
www.animate.org.mx
www.risaterapia.org
NEW YORK MEXICO RESTAURANT WEEK
The Authentic Flavors of Mexico Foundation and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture invite you to sample the culinary arts of Mexico during NEW YORK MEXICO RESTAURANT WEEK. With three-course, prix-fixe menus ($25 lunch/$35 dinner), this specially priced dining week offers a crash course in true Mexican cuisine--its flavors, aromas, and textures--and opens doors to some of the city's finest Mexican restaurants.
For reservations, please contact participating restaurants directly
L = Lunch / D = Dinner
CAFÉ EL PORTAL (L/D)
174 Elizabeth Street / 212.226.642
CAFÉ FRIDA (L/D)
368 Columbus Ave. / 212.712.2929
www.cafefridad.com
CENTRICO (D)
211 W Broadway / 212.431.0700
www.myriadrestaurantgroup.com/centrico/index.html
CREMA (L/D)
111 w 17TH St. / 212.691.4477
www.cremarestaurante.com
EL PASO TAQUERIA (L/D)
1642 Lexington Ave. / 212.831.9831
64 E. 97th Street / 212.996.1739
237 E. 116th Street / 212.860.4875
LA PALAPA COCINA MEXICANA (L/D)
77 Saint Mark’s Place / 212.777.2537
www.lapalapa.com
LOS DADOS (D)
73 Gansevoort Street / 646.810.7290
www.losdadosmexican.com
MAYA RESTAURANT (D)
1191 1st Ave. / 212.585.1818
www.modernmexican.com/mayany/index.htm
MI COCINA RESTAURANT (L/D)
57 Jane St. / 212.627.8273
www.micocinany.com
PAMPANO RESTAURANT (L/D – D not prix-fixe)
209 E. 49TH Street / 212.751.4545
www.modernmexican.com/pampano/index.htm
PAPATZUL (L/D, September 8-11 only)
55 Grant Street / 212.274.8225
www.papatzul.com
ROCKING HORSE CAFÉ (L/D)
182 8th Ave. / 212.463.9511
www.rockinghorsecafe.com
SUENOS (D)
311 W 17TH Street / 212.243.1333
www.suenosnyc.com
TOLOACHE (L/D)
251 W 50TH Street / 212.581.1818
www.toloachenyc.com
HECHO EN DUMBO (D – Not prix-fixe)
111 Front Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201 / 718.855.5288
www.hechoendumbo.com
ZARELA (L/D – Not prix-fixe)
953 2nd Ave. / 212.644.6740
www.zarela.com
POESIA MEXICANA CONTEMPORANEA at St. John’s University
Reverso revista literaria strives to promote contemporary creative expression by giving space to new writers, fine artists, and graphic designers, and thereby occupy an important place in Mexico’s cultural landscape. Reverso is a literary magazine that has received on three occasions (in 2004, 2005 and 2007) the Edmundo Valadés prize from Mexico’s National Council for Arts and Culture (conaculta). It gives Mexican readers a glimpse of literary expression from regions and countries such as Spain, Slovenia, Catalan, France, Germany and Galicia.
Reverso circulates in bookstores, cafeterias, art galleries, universities and magazine stands in Guadalajara, Barcelona, Paris, Frankfurt, Caracas, Buenos Aires and Santiago. The magazine has come out every three months since its first issue in September 2003. Since then, 20 editions have been published.
Carlos López de Alba (Editor, Reverso Revista Literaria) holds a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Literature by Universidad de Guadalajara. Besides his extensive work as writer and editor, he has worked as professor of literature in different universities as well as a columnist in a variety of newspapers and magazines of Mexico. Carlos has been on the juries of literary contests and has participated in conferences on literature and editing in Latin America, such as Université Paris Sorbonne – Paris IV (Rennes, France, 2005), and the International Book Fair of Frankfurt (Germany, 2006). He directs Reverso Magazine, and holds a grant from the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (National Fund for Culture and Arts of Mexico). In addition to his professional work, he collaborates in a number of cultural and educational projects: he is an editorial consultant of the Virtual University System of the Universidad de Guadalajara; a producer of the Cultural TV Channel 8 of Guadalajara and an analyst of literature, cultural politics and publications for the radio program “Señales de Humo” on 104.3 FM.
Carmen Boullosa is a Mexican novelist, a poet and play writer. She received the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize in 1990, the Liberaturpreis of Frankfurt -for the German translation of La Milagrosa- in 1997, the Anna Seghers Prize in 1998, and two Mexican prizes of the critics for one of her plays in 1983. She has been Fellow of the Guggenheim Foundations and at the Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library, Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University and San Diego State University, Chair Andrés Bello at NYU, Chair Reyes at La Sorbonne and visting professor at Columbia University. She´s now Distinguished Lecturer at City College.Her most recent publication is La virgen y el violín (Editorial Siruela, 2008).
Raul J. Zorrilla Arredondo (Executive Director of the Mexican Cultural Institute in New York) is a graduate of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) with a Bachelor’s degree Economics and Finance and a Master’s degree in International Management. He also received a Master of Science degree in Economic History from the London School of Economics. Mr. Zorilla has held a number of posts with the National Council for the Arts and Culture (CONACULTA) in Mexico, the last of which was as Deputy President. He was also appointed as General Director of FONCA, the Mexican government’s cultural policy instrument that applies contributions from the government and private sector to encourage artistic creation. Mr. Zorrilla has also served for four years as Chairman of the Board of the CERLALC, a UNESCO institution dedicated to the support of reading promotion programs in the Latin American Countries.
Xitlalitl Rodríguez Mendoza (poet) was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in 1982. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Literature from Universidad de Guadalajara. She was an exchange student in Contemporary Literature and Spanish at Université de Rennes II Haute Bretagne, Francia. Currently she is a Production Assistant at the Cultural Program “Tierra Adentro”, CONACULTA and copywriter for the “Fronteras-International” section at Milenio newspaper. Her poetry publications include Polvo lugar (Editorial La Zonámbula, 2007) and Poesía Viva de Jalisco, antología de la poesía jalisciense contemporánea (Secretaría de Cultura Jalisco, 2004). Her poetry has appeared in literary magazines such as Luvina, Alforja, Juglares y Alarifes, and Reverso, among others. In 2001, she received ITESO’s Poetry and Short-Story Award in the Poetry category, and in 2005, she won a grant from the Xunta de Galicia in order to learn the Galician language at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.
Alí Calderón (poet), born in Mexico City in 1982, earned his master's degree in Mexican Literature. In 2007, he was awarded the Premio Latinoamericano de Poesía Benemérito de América, and competed for the National Ramón López Velarde Poetry Prize in 2004. Calderón was the fist-generation recipient of the Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas grant in the poetry category. In 2003, he was awarded the Premio Interuniversitario de Ensayo del Estado de Puebla. He is the author of the poetry collections, Imago prima (Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, 2005), and Ser en el mundo (UABJO, 2007). Calderón is also the author of the collection of essays, La generatción de los cincuenta (Fondo Editorial Tierra Adentro, 2005), and a co-editor of the poetry anthology, La luz que va dando nombre: 1965-1985, 20 años de la poesía última en México (Secretaría de Cultura de Puebla, 2007).
Calderón has participated in a variety of academic conferences in Mexico and the United States and has been included in a number of poetry anthologies, including Más vale sollozar afilando la navaja (Cuiria Ediciones, 2004), Los mejores poemas de 2005 (Joaquín Mortiz/FLM, 2005), and De claro en claro... Poemas sobre el Quijote (Ediciones de Educación y Cultura, México, 2005).
