based in New York and Mexico.
natalia@altamurafilms.com
USA (+1 347) 228 8368
MÉXICO (+52 55) 5207 4401
NEW
EL VELADOR, 2011
Through the vigilant eyes of the night watchman we enter into the
world of the most notorious narco-cemetery in Mexico, where a surreal
city of mausoleums is being erected in memory of the most powerful
drug lords. A haunting and intimate portrait of the persistence of
ordinary life in the face of violence.
Premiere in New York at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern
Art’s showcase, “New Directors, New Films,” March 23 to April 3, 2011.
WWW.NEWDIRECTORS.ORG
FILMS
El General, 2009
In 1910 a revolution erupted in Mexico, among its rallying cries "the right to vote." Nearly a century later "Sufragio Efectivo" is heard again as thousands take to the streets. Through the legacy that filmmaker Natalia Almada inherited as the great-granddaughter of Mexican president Plutarco Elias Calles (1924-1928), one of Mexico's most controversial revolutionary figures accused of having been a "Dictator", "Iron Man" and "Nun-Burner", yet also acclaimed for having been the "father of modern Mexico," El General is a portrait of a family and a country under the shadow of the past.
NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH WOMEN MAKE MOVIES
Al Otro Lado, 2005
An aspiring corrido composer from the drug capital of Mexico faces two choices to better his life: to traffic drugs or to cross the border illegally into the United States. From Sinaloa, Mexico to the streets of South Central and East L.A., “Al Otro Lado” explores the world of drug smuggling, illegal immigration and the corrido music that chronicles it all.
Distributed: Women Make Movies
All Water Has A Perfect Memory, 2001
”All Water has a Perfect Memory” is a poignant experimental documentary that explores the effects of tragedy and remembrance on a bi-cultural family. This moving piece lyrically meditates on the cultural and gender differences between the filmmaker's North American mother and Mexican father as they evoke the loss of their child.
Distributed: Women Make Movies
BIO
Natalia Almada
Recipient of the 2009 Sundance Documentary Directing Award for her film “El General,” Almada’s most recent film “El Velador” is a haunting look violence through the eyes of a night watchman in Mexico’s most notorious narco- cemetery. Her previous credits include “All Water Has a Perfect Memory,” an experimental short film that received international recognition; “Al Otro Lado,” her award-winning debut feature documentary about immigration, drug trafficking and corrido music. Almada’s films have screened at The Sundance Film Festival, The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum and The Whitney Biennial and all three feature documentaries have broadcast on the award-winning series POV. Almada is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2010 USA Artist Fellow. She graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design and shares her time between Mexico City and Brooklyn, New York.