Classic Mexican Pop Cinema: A Permanencia Voluntaria Double Feature
Sat. Nov. 14
Two newly rescued and restored classics of Mexican popular film
In Spanish with English subtitles
Tickets - $10 for both films $6 for single film
Doors – 6:00 PM
Organ overture – 6:15 PM
Introduction from Viviana García Besné of Permanencia Voluntaria – 6:30 PM
La Llorona – 6:45 PM
Intermission
Introduction from Viviana García Besné – 8:10 PM
Santo contra el cerebro del mal (Santo vs. The Evil Brain) – 8:20 PM (approximately)
Q&A with Viviana García Besné and Raul Benitez – 9:30 – 10:00 PM
La Llorona (1933)
1hr 9 min |NR| Horror | Mexico
Santo Contra El Cerebro Del Mal (1961)
1hr 10 min | NR | Action/Sci-fi/luchadore | Mexico
¡Cine fantastico! ¡Cine fantasmal! ¡Cine popular!
They say Mexican Coke is better and maybe that goes for the pop side of Mexican film too. Do ghost stories feel spookier when they come in glass bottles? Do wrestling pictures just hit harder if they ditch the high fructose corn syrup in favor of pure, unadulterated cane sugar? We may have lost the metaphor here, so you'll have to come see for yourself at our double feature of newly rescued and restored genre gems, courtesy of the "popular film activists" at Permanencia Voluntaria.
Our double feature starts with the very first Mexican talkie in the horror genre, La Llorona. A supernatural tale based on the Latin American folktale of la llorona, (the wailing or crying woman) this is also the first time this widely known legend of a vengeful mother's spirit was portrayed on screen. It was released at the beginning of Mexico's golden age of cinema and is a dark tale of vengeance, infanticide, and the specter of colonial horror.
The second film, the lucha libre (wrestling) film Santo contra el cerebro del mal is the first film to star Santo, perhaps the most famous Mexican wrestler of all time and a bona fide folk hero of the 20th century. Like most lucha libre films from the 1960s, it's a B-movie with plenty of comic book style action, mystery and suspense. This one features a mad scientist, mind control, undercover agents and even "cell disintegrators."
About Viviana García Besné and Permanencia Voluntaria:
Viviana García Besné is a filmmaker, archivist, curator, writer, and founder of Permanencia Voluntaria, Mexico's first independent archive dedicated to popular cinema and audience studies. As the granddaughter of producer Jorge García Besné and a member of the Calderón García Besné film dynasty, she grew up surrounded by the stories, images, and artifacts of one of the most prolific families in Mexican cinema. What began as a personal effort to understand and preserve this legacy evolved into a decades-long commitment to rescuing, restoring, researching, and reinterpreting Mexican popular cinema. For more than twenty years, García Besné has challenged traditional hierarchies of film history by advocating for genres often dismissed as lowbrow or commercial, including lucha libre films, horror cinema, melodramas, fantasy films, and other forms of popular entertainment. Through her work, these productions have increasingly been recognized as essential expressions of cultural memory, collective imagination, and social history.
About Raul Benitez:
Raul Benitez is a Latino film programmer in Chicago for over 16 years. Raul is the Senior Programmer at the Midwest Film Festival, and formally the After Dark and shorts programmer for the Chicago International Film Festival. Raul also programs at Comfort Station Logan Square, Chicago Underground Film Festival, and the Midwest Film Festival. Raul has been named a Chicago Film gem by New City Chicago for 2015,17,19 and in 2023 Raul was inducted to the Film Gem Hall of Fame. Raul is also the founder of the Latine Film Gang Hang, a networking event for Latino Film workers in Chicago. Raul was also named an Esteemed Artist by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and received a DCASE grant for his Chicago/Mexico City Filmmaker exchange program. Raul also was awarded in 2026 a DCASE grant for his Luchascope Chicago event. Raul is on the board of the Chicago Film Society, Chicago Alliance of Film Festivals, and formerly Chicago Filmmakers.
Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue
