Petróleo México

2004
Petróleo México is a film by Roberto Paci Dalò presented in the official selection of the 58th Locarno International Film Festival. Entirely shot by the artist in Mexico City, it is a visual and sound meditation on Mexico of yesterday and today. Paci Dalò creates a game of correspondence starting from the extraordinary similarity between today’s faces and those of Mexican antiquity.

 

In Petróleo México, images of the urban and chaotic everyday life of Mexico City interact with those of the pre-Columbian myth, evoked through the great masks of indigenous civilization. The movement between mass scenes and faces in the foreground is fundamental. These suddenly emerge from the crowd and become the unconscious protagonists of the work.  Roberto Paci Dalò meditates on how much the myth is part – precisely through the faces – of the routine. Moreover, as Giorgio Agamben says: “the face is the only place of the community, the only possible city”.

58.Locarno International Film Festival

After the premiere on May 20, 2004 in Mexico City for the Bienal de la Radio, Petròleo México was presented on August 10, 2005 at the 58th Locarno International Film Festival.

Credits

Pétroleo México
(2005)

A film by
Roberto Paci Dalò

Produced, directed, filmed by
Roberto Paci Dalò

Editor
Natalie Cristiani

Musics
Absolute Value of Noise, Roberto Paci Dalò
Serenata sin Luna, Pedro Infante, eseguita da Alfredo Jimenez
Blue velvet, Bernie wayne/ Lee Morris, eseguita da Bobby Winton

Production
Giardini Pensili

In collaboration with
Bienal Internacional de Radio
Radio Educación

Specs
Italia 2005
27:00
PAL
B/W stereo
no dialogues
1.33:1

58.Locarno International Film Festival. Official selection

 

Thanks to
Lidia Camacho
Graciela Martinez
Matt Smith
Jorge Reyes
Oscar Inclán
VJ Viscosity
Peter Courtemarche
Perla Olivia Rodirguez Resendiz
Sendra Edgar
Erika Carmen López Pérez
Carlos López Gonzales
Jesús Álvarez Tapia
Marguerita Gonzáles Ortiz
Benjamin Rocha
Guadalupe Martinez Perez
Eugenia Pulido
Marcos Wenzel
Enrique Galindo
Andréd Vilalobos
Jaime Villareal
Eusebio Banuelos

Thanks to
Patrizio Esposito
Leonardo Montecchi
Agnese Marchetti
Gabriele Frasca
Marco Bertozzi
Davide Montecchi
Rosanna D’Agostino
Ambra Galassi
Vittorio D’Augusta
Andrea Felli
Caroline Michel
The Western Front Vancouver
Canal 23 del Cenart
Istituto Italiano di Cultura México D.F.
Dirección General de Televisión Educativa
ORF Kunstradio Vienna
Terra Gramsci
Centro Multimediale de Centro Nacional de las Artes