DIRECTOR: Emilio Fernández
PRODUCERS: Guillermo Calderòn, Pedro Calderòn
PRODUCTION CO: Cinematográfica Calderòn
SCREENPLAY: Emilio Fernández
PHOTOGRAPHY: Gabriel Figueroa
EDITOR: Gloria Schoemann
MUSIC: Antonio Díaz Conde
WITH: Ninón Sevilla (Violeta), Tito Junco (Santiago), Rodolfo Acosta (Rodolfo), Rita Montaner (Rita), Arturo Soto Rangel (Prison warden)

REVIEW

“Emilio Fernández was one of Mexican cinema’s most celebrated auteurs — a visionary populist filmmaker who took the stuff of pulpy potboilers and created works of surprising depth. In this cabaret thriller, a nightclub dancer (played by the sensuous Ninón Sevilla) saves a baby that’s been left to die, raising him as her own. But the baby’s father — a pimp, a crook, and a murderer — forces himself into her life, and our heroine sinks into increasing desperation. The musical sequences — in particular Sevilla’s dancing — are raw, beautiful, and riveting, harnessing the impulses that get our characters into trouble when they go beyond the confines of the dance floor.”

– Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

“Onstage, Violeta (Ninón Sevilla) is the star of Cabaret Changó. When she dances, her power extends over the nightclub’s audience—drunks, musicians, gangsters, and onlookers — which shifts, from chaos to joy, with every transition she makes between tempos and traditions. Backstage, however, Violeta lives under the thumb of the violent and possessive Rodolfo — as do scores of local sex workers and dancers. When a newborn that Rodolfo claims isn’t his is abandoned, Violeta sacrifices her status and sets into motion a generational tale that mixes melodrama, amped-up noir lighting, and dancefloor storytelling that anticipates the intensified montage of Bob Fosse. Director Emilio Fernández, already a Palme d’Or winner (1944’s María Candelaria), together with cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, turn the film’s cabaret confines into a dynamic space for sweeping camera moves. As a classic example of the cine de rumberas genre, Victims of Sin is a jolting rediscovery, mixing high-level craft and underworld action.”

– The Cinematheque

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Nelson  
Wednesday, 21 May, 6.00pm​

Whanganui    
Monday, 07 July, 7.00pm

Palmerston North  
Wednesday, 23 July, 6.00pm​

Queenstown  
Tuesday, 05 August, 8.00pm​

Canterbury  
Monday, 18 August, 7.00pm​

Auckland   
Monday, 08 September, 6.15pm 

​​Hamilton     
Monday, 15 September, 6.30pm

Dunedin     
Wednesday, 24 September, 7.30pm

​Wellington    
Monday, 17 November, 6.15pm

Wellington    
Monday, 17 November, 8.30pm
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