Territory and Central American and Mexican Youth in the Cinematic Work of Julio Hernández Cordón

Authors

  • Carlos Belmonte Grey Université d’Avignon

Abstract

Julio Hernández Cordón is a film direct who over his decade of work has directed seven feature-length films. His most well-known films, critically acclaimed and lauded in international film festivals, are Gasolina (2008), Te prometo anarquía (2015), Cómprame un revolver (2018). His films have recounted Mexican, Guatemalan, Costa Rican, and Nicaraguan stories; that is, he engages the narratives of Meso-American youth. This article attempts to show how Hernández Cordón’s approach, with dynamic long shots and a constant avoidance of national iconography, proposes a representation of Central American and Mexican youth through the construction of space as a visible element between the screen and the spectator. The result is a representation of an absent State, denounced politically by the middle class and revealed through the avoidance of identitary and patriotic icons, transgressing political borders.

Keywords:

Central American film, Mexican film, liquid borders, regionality and territory, Julio Hernández Cordón, absent State, middle class pastimes