El pasado nunca se muere, ni siquiera es pasado

“The film El pasado nunca se muere, ni siquiera es pasado [The past never dies, it is not even past] was a project attempt- ed in 2018. That year the movement of 1968 had its 50th anniversary and there was great interest in reflecting upon that heritage. The film was supposed to be inserted into that conjuncture, but it wasn’t made.
The student movement of 1968 in Mexico was forever marked by its end: the government’s brutal repression. The movement became a symbol of purity and integrity; the martyr’s image was crystallized; its idea was consolidated. For us in 2018 it was impossible to imagine any project aiming towards social change that didn’t exist in relation to 1968. It was the absolute reference, and it is common knowledge that it is hard to negotiate with saints. Our question was:
How to deal with that heritage?
Today, in May 2048, thirty years later, we want to remember that film which was never made. Today, eighty years af- ter 1968, we want to remember that the past doesn’t exist; that it isn’t even past.
Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol, May 2048”

This project is conceived after an invitation by Silvia Botirolli to reflect upon 1968 fifty years later. We decided to make an per- formatic installation composed of an
exhibit, a film and a scenic moment. We began from a question: “why think the present from the present?” It seemed suggestive to set the installa- tion in 2048 and try to imagine how we would reflect on the student movement of 1968’s heritage not in the present but in the future.
When the viewers entered the room they came upon a series of pictures on the wall, which revealed itself to be a storyboard, the visual notes for a film. In addition, there were a hundred white frames of different dimensions, in which there were portraits cut from newspapers. At some point a LED billboard warned that upon entering the second room the viewers would enter the year 2048. A film was playing in this room, about ten minutes long, in which Francisco Barreiro, Luisa Pardo and Gabino Rodríguez discussed, in 2048, a film they couldn’t finish in 2018, a failed project. The film was a critique to the heritage of 1968, to the way in which that Left had entrenched in political power fifty years after the movement. In the film Francisco and Gabino were played by their fathers, while Luisa was played by Regina Flores Ribot.
When the film was over, Francisco and Gabino reenacted several moments of the film on stage. We did it with a realistic style. We per- formed as we do in cinema. The experience was over 35 minutes long.
This project was premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in a context that reflected mainly upon May 68 in France; it was very important for the project to be premiered later, in October 2018, at Centro Cultural Tlatelolco in Mexico City.

Realizado y desarrollado por Conceived and developed by: Francisco Barreiro y Gabino Rodríguez • Colaboración ar- tística Artistic collaboration: Luisa Pardo • Asesoría artística Artistic advisors: Bernardo Gamboa y Chantal Peñalosa • Vi- deo Video: Juan Pablo Villalobos, Nicolás Pereda y Christian Rivera • Actuación en video Film cast: Regina Flores Ribot, Francisco Barreiro y José Rodríguez • Diseño de luz y espa- cio Lighting design and space: Sergio López Vigueras • In- vestigación iconográfica Iconographic research: Juan Leduc • Producción Production: Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol.

This project was premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in 2018 and later in the exhibition |<< || > · >>| Ficción y tiempo at Centro Cul- tural Tlatelolco; and in Nuevo manifiesto de cine mexicano at Lo- dos Gallery, Mexico City.