Despite 'Pinocchio' Success, Del Toro Fears for Mexican Cinema

A man is seen next to photographs of actors from the golden age of Mexican cinema, at the Churubusco studios in Mexico City. Pedro PARDO / AFP
A man is seen next to photographs of actors from the golden age of Mexican cinema, at the Churubusco studios in Mexico City. Pedro PARDO / AFP
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Despite 'Pinocchio' Success, Del Toro Fears for Mexican Cinema

A man is seen next to photographs of actors from the golden age of Mexican cinema, at the Churubusco studios in Mexico City. Pedro PARDO / AFP
A man is seen next to photographs of actors from the golden age of Mexican cinema, at the Churubusco studios in Mexico City. Pedro PARDO / AFP

Despite his international success, including a new adaptation of the classic puppet tale "Pinocchio," Oscar-winning Mexican director Guillermo del Toro fears that his country's cinema industry is facing "systematic destruction."

Del Toro's animated version of "Pinocchio," in which an elderly woodcarver and his living puppet find themselves in 1930s fascist Italy, was the most watched film on streaming platform Netflix in the week of December 12-18, said AFP.

Its debut on December 9 came a week before the release of "Bardo," an autobiographical tale of a journalist-filmmaker returning home after years in Los Angeles, by fellow Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Mexican actors have also enjoyed recent success in Hollywood, including Tenoch Huerta, the rising star of the sequel to "Black Panther," the first major Black superhero movie.

Del Toro, Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron represent a golden generation of Mexican filmmakers who have won the best director trophy at the Oscars five times since 2013.

Del Toro's fantasy romance "The Shape of Water" earned best picture and best director at the 2018 Oscars.

The following year Cuaron scooped three golden statuettes for "Roma" -- an intimate black-and-white movie about a family in turmoil in 1970s Mexico City.

- 'Brutal' destruction -
But in stark contrast to the international acclaim for the trio, dubbed "The Three Amigos," del Toro has now warned that the country's film industry is facing "unprecedented" challenges.

"The systematic destruction of Mexican cinema and its institutions -- which took decades to build -- has been brutal," he tweeted recently.

Del Toro highlighted an announcement by the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences that next year's Ariel Awards -- the country's equivalent of the Oscars -- were postponed until further notice due to a "serious financial crisis."

The organization said it regretted that "the support of public resources has decreased considerably in recent years.

"The state, which was the motor and support of the academy for a long time, has renounced its responsibility as the main promoter and disseminator of culture in general and of cinema in particular," it added.

Del Toro even offered to pay for the Ariel statuettes out of his own pocket.

"He's a generous colleague, an artist who is always aware of what is happening not only with Mexican cinematography but with the arts in general in the country," said Academy president Leticia Huijara.

She would, however, prefer an agreement with the state.

In the meantime, the Ariels have been postponed, Huijara confirmed to AFP.

- Promoting Indigenous film -
Maria Novaro, the general manager of the Mexican Film Institute (Imcine), a government agency, thinks the warnings are exaggerated.

"Del Toro says that there is no more Mexican cinema in the year when there have never been so many productions," she said, hailing a "record" 256 films in 2021.

"And 56 percent received support from public money. Imcine devotes 900 million pesos ($45 million) a year to financing Mexican cinema," said Novaro.

"It's good that Netflix produces a lot of content in Mexico. But it does not replace what Imcine does," she added.

Mexican cinema enjoyed a golden age between the 1930s and 1950s, featuring movie stars such as Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armendariz.

But the industry went through a quiet period before enjoying a revival, helped in recent years by the success of "The Three Amigos."

Mexican cinema has now become decentralized and diversified, according to Novaro, mirroring President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's priorities to help impoverished and Indigenous Mexicans.

Since 2019, there has been a program to encourage Indigenous and Afro-descendant cinema, with 56 such films in production, Novaro said.

"Films are starting to come out that tell about migration from the perspective of Indigenous migrants themselves," she added.



Raspy-voiced Hit Machine Rod Stewart Turns 80

Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
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Raspy-voiced Hit Machine Rod Stewart Turns 80

Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File

Singer Rod Stewart, who helped British rock conquer the world with a string of megahits, turns 80 on Friday -- with no plans to slow down.
Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s with hits like "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and "Young Turks", notching up more than 250 million record sales worldwide.
He also made headlines for a prolific love life that included relationships with a string of models and actresses including Britt Ekland.
Despite his landmark birthday, Stewart says he has no plans to retire.
"I love what I do, and I do what I love. I'm fit, have a full head of hair and can run 100 meters (330 feet) in 18 seconds at the jolly old age of 79," he wrote last year.
The star will play the legends slot at the famed Glastonbury music festival this summer.
Although his forthcoming European and North American tour dates will be his last large-scale project, he has said he plans to concentrate on more intimate venues in the future.
He will headline a new residency in Las Vegas from March to June.
A tour is also slated for 2026 for Swing Fever, the album he released last year with pianist and ex-Squeeze band member Jools Holland.
As he has approached his ninth decade, Stewart has also made headlines for quirkier reasons such as his passion for model railways and his battle with potholes that have prevented him from driving his Ferrari near his home in eastern England.
The singer, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2016, has been married three times and has fathered eight children. His third wife is model and television personality Penny Lancaster.
From London to global star
Stewart's story began in north London on 10 January 1945, when Roderick Stewart was born into a middle-class family.
After a "fantastically happy childhood", he developed a love of music when his father bought him a guitar in 1959, and he formed a skiffle band with school friends a year later.
He joined the band Dimensions in 1963 as a harmonica player, exploring his love of folk, blues and soul music while learning from other artists such as Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in London's blossoming rhythm and blues scene.
Stewart's career took off in 1967 when he joined the renowned guitarist Jeff Beck's eponymous new band, which also included future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, allowing him to develop his raw and soulful vocal style and stagecraft while exposing him to a US audience.
He and Wood took up the offer to join mod pioneers Small Faces following the departure of their singer Steve Marriott in 1969 -- the band soon changing its name to The Faces -- shortly before Stewart released his debut solo album.
It was his 1971 third solo release, "Every Picture Tells a Story", that confirmed him as one of the world's most successful artists, reaching number one in Britain, Australia and the United States, where it went platinum.
The album helped define Stewart's rock/folk sound, featuring heartfelt lyrics and heavy use of unusual instruments such as the mandolin, particularly prominent on the album's standout hit "Maggie May".
"I just love stories with a beginning, middle and end," he once said.
'I had the last laugh'
Focusing on his solo career after 1975, Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" released in 1978 was not to everyone's taste.
"Once the most compassionate presence in music, he has become a bilious self-parody -– and sells more records than ever," Rolling Stone magazine said in 1980.
Never one to be cowed by the critics, Stewart defended this phase, telling an interviewer that audiences "absolutely love it, so I had the last laugh".
Richard Houghton, author of the book "Tell Everyone -- A People's History of the Faces" said that Stewart had "possibly the most distinctive voice in rock music".
The singer had successfully combined writing classic songs of his own such as "Maggie May" or "You Wear It Well" with taking other people's songs -- from Bob Dylan to Tom Waits -- and making them his own .
More recently, there had been four albums of the "classic songs of the 1930s from his Great American Songbook catalogue".
Houghton said audiences could expect to see plenty more of Stewart.
"He's like any entertainer. He loves the spotlight. He's not going to sit at home watching the television when somewhere around the world there's a crowd wanting to hear him sing 'Mandolin Wind' or 'First Cut Is The Deepest' one more time.
"Rod will keep singing until the day he drops," he added.