Feature film
Janitzio
Carlos Navarro · 1935
Synopsis
On the island of Janitzio, in the middle of Lake Pátzcuaro, in Michoacán, Zirahuén is a Purépecha fisherman engaged to Eréndira. He stands up to the outside speculators who are invading the waters where his community fishes. Manuel Moreno, one of these outsiders, covets Eréndira and has Zirahuén thrown into prison, while the law of the island weighs on the lovers.
Context
Written by the photographer Luis Márquez after a Purépecha legend, adapted by Roberto O'Quigley, the film was shot in fifteen days from 25 November 1934 around the lake, the first shoot in Michoacán, then completed in the studio. The photography is by Jack Draper, the music by Francisco Domínguez. It was released on 28 September 1935 at the Olimpia cinema in Mexico City. Emilio Fernández plays his first major role in it; having become a director, he partly reuses its plot in Maclovia (1948).
Who it is for
A short feature film, of about an hour, shot on natural locations, with an old soundtrack, which can be watched without preparation.
Prizes and reception
Forerunner of the golden age and of indigenismo in Mexican cinema; ranked among the hundred best films of the country.
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