Post Tenebras Lux, "After the darkness, the light." A title tailor-made for Carlos Reygadas, such is the designer's predilection for playing with light and contrasts. After Batailla en el cielo (2005) and Stellet Licht (Jury Prix 2007), the director and distributor is now back in Compeition.
It is often said of Mexican Director Carlos Reygadas that he "works like an expressionist painter". From the world of painting he has taken the idea of framing, composition, and especially the play of the light and shadows. And the ideas of expressionism are reflected in his memories and fears, his rêverie and his poetry.
For Post Tenebras Lux, Reygadas drew on his adolescence for inspiration. He reveals one of the torments of his youth, the duality of the rural and urban environment. His character Juan leaves Mexico City to settle in the countryside with his family. There he discovers different landscapes and values, a blend of joy and suffering.
Beyond his work as a director, Carlos Reygadas is also a distributor and stalwart defender of quality cinema. He founded the label ND Mantarraya, which lies behind the distribution in Mexico of masterpieces such as A Torinoi Lo (Carlos Reygadas), Hors Satan (Bruno Dumont) and Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki).
"To appreciate special films, you have to be in contact with them, says Carlos Reygadas. "There are few countries where you can see films such as those made by Kaurismaki in big cinemas, particularly in emerging countries".
Carlos Reygadas and his collaborators choose films to distribute according to their own tastes. Super-productions and highly bankable films are left to one side, as their aim is to introduce the greatest works in contemporary cinemas to Mexican filmgoers.