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Long Sleepless Nights

Directed by Julián Hernández2000Mexico50 mins

This grainy, disjointed film beautifully places the conflict of sexual identity and unrequited love inside the smoggy borders of Mexico City. Using dramatic expressionistic lighting, black-and-white film stock, and a minimalist soundtrack, Hernandez creates a moody por­trait of Bruno, a young prostitute on the streets of the largest city in the world. While tricking for cash professionally, Bruno spends his personal time pursuing the love of his pre­ sumably straight friend Umberto. Violently, Umberto severs ties with him, which leads Bruno to his own violent and misguided expression of anger and rejection. The film's experimental structure — prophetic interti­ties, dependence on gesture over dialogue, brooding music — creates a broken sense of time and a feeling of displacement within Mexico City's dark alleys, carnival midways, and sketchy movie houses. This displacement mirrors Bruno's anguish over lost love and his manhood.

The program opens with Dormimundo Vol. 7 Incomodidad, a collection of short works by the extraordinary Mexican experimental video artist Ximena Cuevas.

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Original Language Title
Hubo un tiempo en que los sueños dieron paso a largas noches de insomnio...
Director
Julián Hernández
Year
2000
Country
Mexico
Running Time
50 mins
Language
Spanish

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