South of the Border on Sunday

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 11, 2008 4:45PM

We'd all like a little sunshine right about now. On Sunday the Chicago Cinema Forum will be splashing buckets of it all over the screen, thanks to the glistening cinematography of lenser Gabriel Figueroa. He photographed the little-seen María Candelaria, a Mexican film that won "Best Cinematography" and tied for "Grand Prize" at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. Screen siren Dolores del Río plays a savvy flower girl whose attempts to succeed in the marketplace are thwarted by a conservative community that isn't about to let her escape her past. Throw in a fiancée, an appreciative painter and the Mexico City locale and you've got a Grade A feisty melodrama.

The screening is at LaSalle Bank Cinema, 4901 W. Irving Park, this Sunday at 7 pm. It's paired with Bruce Baillie's classic, lyrical avant-garde short, "Valentin de las Sierras," shot in Chapala, Jalisco.

We should also mention that the Chicago Latino Film Festival is already underway and runs through April 16. The Reader has a nice writeup of what's playing.