Film exhibition and programming in the city and port of Veracruz, Mexico 1952

Abstract

Within the theoretical perspective of the New History of Cinema, the exhibition and programming of films in the city and port of Veracruz in 1952 is weighed. The purpose of the international project Culture of the Screen has been to present studies outside of Europe and the United States, as it happens in several Mexican cities, which allows contrasting social, cultural and economic factors that influence the cinematographic offer and specifying the location of the cinemas, as well as their programming at a certain time, representing the objective of the present Article. It is based on the documentary investigation of archives of the city of Veracruz and a review of film billboards published on Saturdays in 1952 in the newspaper El Dictamen. Among the results, the following stand out: Historical presence of films from the United States, Mexico and other parts of the world, as well as a boom in the exhibition of national films during the golden age of Mexican cinema (1940–1952). It is concluded that similar patterns are shown in cinemas of Torreón, Tampico-Ciudad Madero and Veracruz, to those identified in North American and European cities, located mostly in their urban center, with similar sensitive links of their inhabitants, forming part of their environment and daily life.