Icarus Films Presents the Theatrical Premiere of
Natalia Almada’s Acclaimed Film EL VELADOR / THE NIGHT WATCHMAN
June 14 ‐ 20 at The Museum of Modern Art, Followed by Tour Across the U.S.
PBS’ POV Will Present the Film’s National Television Broadcast on September 27
Icarus Films is proud to present the U.S. Theatrical Premiere of EL VELADOR / THE NIGHT WATCHMAN, Natalia Almada’s astonishing new documentary feature film that takes us to a vast cemetery where many notorious drug lords sleep. The film, which had its world premiere at New Directors/New Films Festival in 2011 and was an official selection of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight last year, will have an exclusive one week theatrical engagement at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City starting Thursday, June 14, followed by a tour of ten U.S. cities this summer (see calendar below; additional dates to be confirmed), and will have its national broadcast premiere as part of the 25th anniversary season of PBS’ POV / www.pbs.org/pov series on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 10pm. (Check local listings.)
From dusk to dawn, EL VELADOR / THE NIGHT WATCHMANaccompanies Martín, the night watchman who guards a labyrinthine graveyard in Culiacán, capital of Sinaloa and Mexico’s drug heartland. As young widows sweep the marble floors of elaborate crypts, luxurious cars glide silently between tombs, and construction workers build lavish new mausoleums more luxurious than their homes. This city of the dead sits at the intersection between ordinary life and the violent conflict of Mexico’s drug wars, which have already claimed over 60,000 lives. This lyrical, peaceful documentary about out‐of‐control violence reminds us that even during the turmoil of Mexico’s bloodiest conflict since the Revolution, ordinary life persists and quietly defies the dead.
Almada will be at MoMA for a discussion following the screening of her film on Monday, June 18 at 7pm, and will also be present for a conversation with Mexican‐American director Lourdes Portillo on Saturday, June 23 at 7:30pm, on the occasion of the film series “Lourdes Portillo: La Cineasta Inquisitiva.” “An unsettlingly quiet, even lyrical film about a world made and unmade by violence.” ‐ A.O. Scott, The New York Times
EL VELADOR / THE NIGHT WATCHMAN (Mexico/USA, 2011, 72 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles).
Director/Producer/DP: Natalia Almada; Associate Producers: Laurence Ansquer (Tita Productions) &Charlotte Uzu (Les Films d’Ici); Editor: Natalia Almada. Co‐editor: Julien Devaux; Sound Designer: Alejandro de Icaza; Production Assistant: Ramiro Rodriguez. EL VELADOR is a co‐production of Altamura Films and American Documentary | POV in association with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A co‐presentation with LPB. Additional funding provided by the Jan Vrijman Fund, The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, Charles Schultz, NYSCA and Chicken and Egg Pictures. An Icarus Films release.
About the Director: Natalia Almada is the recipient of the 2009 Sundance Documentary Directing Award for her film about her great‐grandfather, Mexican president Plutarco Elias Calles, El General, which had its national broadcast premiere on POV in 2008. Almada’s previous directing credits include All Water Has a Perfect Memory (2001), an experimental short film that received international recognition, and Al Otro Lado, her award‐winning debut feature documentary (POV, 2006) about immigration, drug trafficking and corrido music. Almada’s films have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Biennial. Almada is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2010 USA Artist Fellow, a 2011 TEDx Speaker, and a recipient of the 2011 Alpert Award.
EL VELADOR / THE NIGHT WATCHMAN Screening Calendar
June 14‐20
One‐Week Exclusive Engagement
(June 18 – Q&A with Almada; and June 23 – Almada in Conversation with Lourdes Portillo)
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street, New York, NY. (212) 708‐9400 / www.moma.org/Film
A co‐presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB)
Screening times: Thursday, June 14, 7pm; Friday, June 15, 4pm; Saturday, June 16, 7:30pm; Sunday, June 17,
2pm; Monday, June 18, 7pm; Wednesday, June 20, 4pm.
July 6‐8
Northwest Film Center, Portland, OR
July 6‐12
Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA
July 13
UCLA Film and Television Archive, Los Angeles, CA
July 15
Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
August 4 and 6
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
September (Date TBA)
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA
September 8
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
September 12
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
September 25‐26
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
September 27‐28
The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
September 27
Airing on PBS’ POV
For more information, screeners for review, hi‐res images, embeddable trailer or to schedule an interview
with the filmmaker, please contact Andrea Betanzos at (212) 254‐5474 or press@cinematropical.com
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