BOOKS

One of the main activities of the Archive has been the research, edition and publishing of books, as means to promoting a better appreciation and knowledge of Mexican cinema among a wide variety of readers, from the academic to the general public.

Rogelio Agrasánchez Jr. has been very enthusiastic in producing books since the late 1980s.  The first project, an illustrated volume on movie poster art generated during Mexican cinema's Golden Age, saw the light in 1998, after several years of preparation.  The first and second edition of Poster Art from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema were quickly sold and are now out of print.  This volume was published by the Agrasánchez Film Archive with the participation of the University of Guadalajara and the Mexican Institute of Cinema. A volume on poster art made between 1957-1990, authored by Agrasánchez Jr. was recently published by a well-known editorial house.

The second book edited and published by the Archive was Mexican Horror Cinema:  Posters From Mexican Fantasy Films. It featured the striking art and propaganda created for Mexican horror, sci-fi and fantasy films from the 1930s to the 1980s. Though production of horror and fantasy films was not very large in Mexico, many of the movies are still remembered by fans of the genre at home and abroad; some of them had become cult favorites.  This lavishly illustrated volume included engaging essays by authors David Wilt, Brian Moran and Freddy Peralta.

A third effort was Beauties of Mexican Cinema/Bellezas del cine mexicano, in which Agrasanchez put together selected photographs and brief biographies of 61 actresses of Mexican Cinema, all of them considered among the most talented and gorgeous women that became popular between the 1940s and 1960s.  This volume can be of interest not only for the fans of classic Mexican cinema.  The beauty of the actresses themselves, as well as the quality of the images reproduced in it will be also enjoyable to any lover of photographic art.

All three books have achieved the goal of promoting appreciation of Mexican cinema through the colorful propaganda made for those films.  Through splendid images and concise texts, these volumes take the reader into the world of classic Mexican cinema.

Further, the Archive is involved in the production of books based on original historical research.  The first of these volumes was Miguel Zacarías, creador de estrellas, a monograph about director Zacarías, a Mexican of Lebanese descent who was also an outstanding writer and producer of motion pictures.  Zacarías was a pioneer of sound film in Mexico.  He always aimed to make films that showed the values and traditions of Mexico.

Another important volume authored by Rogelio Agrasánchez Jr., and edited in 2006 by McFarland Publishers, was Mexican Movies in the United States: A History of the Films, Theaters and Audiences 1920-1960.  This is a pioneer book on the subject of Mexican film distribution and exhibition in the United States, which chronicles the economic, cultural and social relevance of this activity since the 1920s.

More historical books are being currently prepared; details can be read at Ongoing Projects.

The Archive has co-edited two books written by Mexican researchers.  Both of them as part of the series 'Mujeres del cine mexicano', and devoted to Mexican women filmmakers.  These volumes are Mimí Derba (the first woman in directing a silent feature film in Mexico), and Adela Sequeyro (the first filmmaker of sound feature films in Mexico). 

An additional volume on the Churubusco Film Studios, was partially financed by the Archive. 

In the future, one of the aims of the Archive is to establish a non-profit publishing house especializing on Mexican cinema.

All contents © Agrasánchez Film Archive