Q&A with writer/director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo (via Skype) following the film
Cinematography by Jorge Z. Lopez
Original music by Omar Guzmán
Cast: Stephen Bosch, Angelica Padilla, Jaziel de Lara, Alberto Estrella
Mexico, 2010, distributed by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, BluRay, color, 115 min.
Spanish with English subtitles
The credits for JUVENTUD, DESENGAÑOS Y ANHELOS DE HERNÁN CORTÉS DELGADO (Youth, Disillusionments and Desires of Hernán Cortés Delgado) indicate that this is “a digital film made with no intention of financial gain but as the culmination of an academic project with the participation of students, teachers, technicians, and actors.” After 45 years experience in making 30 feature films – many of which received both national and international awards – Jaime Humberto Hermosillo returned to his hometown of Aguascalientes to make a film with a predominantly local and non-professional cast and crew. Although not strictly auto-biographical, the film would contain some elements of his own life – a young man with an older brother and younger sister, all living with their widowed, hard-working mother. Both Hermosillo and his protagonist Hernán discovered Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and decided to become writers. Just like New York City for young Americans, Mexico City has long been the place for young Mexicans to move if they dream of being in the arts. In the film we see Hernán voraciously reading, going to movies with his friend Marco, studying business communications, beginning to write his one-act play based on the friendship between two teenage boys, helping his mother in her bakery, and getting a job in an office. The film takes place in 1958, the year that Adolfo López Mateos (“to the left within the Constitution”) is set to become President of Mexico, despite the Catholic cries of “Comunista!” Railway workers are threatening to strike if wages and healthcare are not improved. But all the while Hernán continues to dream of leaving home, no matter how strong his ties to family and friends. He knows that his future is in the capital city where he can escape provincial attitudes and restrictions and finally be free to be himself.