Mothernest Great Lakes Pro - Final Day World Surf League

Hang Loose Pro Contest - Day 5

Abandonados, monumentos y parques históricos en Oaxaca de Juárez.

Zócalo de Oaxaca: cultura, turismo, gastronomía y plantones

Qué hacer en Oaxaca

Rick Bayless Oaxaca Staff Trip: Making Mezcal at the Palenque YouTube We spent the afternoon at a palenque in Ejutla to see the mezcal-making process. Located in the pueblo of San Agustín Amantego, this palenque is ...

Rick Bayless Oaxaca Staff Trip: Making Mezcal at the Palenque YouTube We spent the afternoon at a palenque in Ejutla to see the mezcal-making process. Located in the pueblo of San Agustín Amantego, this palenque is ...

'Roma' star's unlikely road from mountains of Mexico to Hollywood 22 February 2019 - 14:18 BY AFP RELAXNEWS

LIFESTYLE

'Roma' star's unlikely road from mountains of Mexico to Hollywood

22 February 2019 - 14:18BY AFP RELAXNEWS

Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio. 
Image: Robyn Beck / AFP

Yalitza Aparicio once was a newly qualified pre-school teacher living in a dusty mountain town in Mexico.

Now, the 25-year-old is the star of Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and an Oscar nominee - a fairy tale marred by racist barbs the indigenous actress has encountered along the way.

Aparicio - who is part Mixtec and part Triqui - grew up in Tlaxiaco in the southern state of Oaxaca, home to about 40,000 people.

She had never even seen a movie on the big screen until she was 15 and went on a school trip to Puebla, a city some 350 kilometers away.

Tlaxiaco closed its only movie heater years ago, explains Miguel Angel Martinez, who runs the small city's tiny cultural centre. Even then, it had only shown films that had screened everywhere else years before.

The theatre's demise was hastened by the advent of pirated DVDs, a flourishing black market that at least brought more up-to-date movies to Tlaxiaco.

Now, in an open-air market next to the church and clock tower, a stall advertises Romaon sale for 20 pesos, or one dollar.

In the film, Aparicio plays an indigenous nanny living with a family in Mexico City - a tale drawn from Cuaron's own childhood in the 1970s.

In real life, Aparicio grew up in a tiny house among flowers, chickens and cows, before becoming Cuaron's unlikely on-screen muse.

RACIST INSULTS

Since bursting onto the big screen, her performance has been lauded from Europe to the United States, and her face has appeared on the covers of prestigious magazines.

She is the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar.

But with her newfound fame has come a wave of racist comments on social media, and even some from fellow actors.

WATCH | The movie trailer for Roma

Sergio Goyri, a 60-year-old Mexican soap opera star, was caught on camera criticising the Academy for nominating an "Indian" - using a vile profanity.

Other actors have questioned her talent, sparking indignation from Cuaron.

"Yalitza is one of the best actors I have worked with. It is wrong and racist to think that she is only playing herself," he said.

"It sets such huge limitations on a woman, just because of her indigenous background."

MIXED RESPONSE AT HOME

But even in her hometown, Aparicio's work has often received a lukewarm response.

"I don't like the movie, and I like her performance even less. It's all very trite," said Rogelio Lopez, a seller of costume jewellery.

Others in Tlaxiaco are more supportive.

"I really want her to win an Oscar," said Catalina Chavez, a 39-year-old artisan.

"I'm very proud that she is representing us - as women, as indigenous people, as Mexicans, as country people and as domestic workers, as so many things!"

Gladys Morales, a 24-year-old who went to school with Aparicio, says she admires the down-to-earth way her former classmate has coped with the international limelight.

I personally always thought I could never be a part of this [showbiz]. It all seems like a fairy tale

Yalitza Aparicio

"I was here in December [for New Year's festivities]. I saw her just walking with her mom. They were doing some shopping," Morales said. "Everything here is as simple as ever."

Aparicio has defended herself against "offensive comments," saying she hopes "we are done with this idea."

"I personally always thought I could never be a part of this [showbiz]. It all seems like a fairy tale because all my life, I have been seeing women who didn't look like me on the screen," she told reporters.

'NOT HERE FOR THE CASTING CALL'

So how did this humble young woman reach the peaks of cinematic glory?

That in itself is a fairy tale of improbable casting.

In April 2016, Cuaron put out a casting call in Tlaxiaco and other towns to find the lead actress for Roma.

Martinez, the cultural centre head, said he thought the role would go to Aparicio's older sister Edith, explaining that she has a "magnificent singing voice" and is "very talented, outgoing, with a lot of charm and charisma."

The two sisters went to the casting call together, and Edith threw herself enthusiastically into the session, which consisted of a photo shoot and questions about her personal life.

But the casting official insisted that Yalitza also take part.

"I didn't come for the casting call. I only came to keep Edith company," Yalitza said, according to Martinez.

But Edith "took her by the hand" into the test.

She quickly found herself cast in Roma without even knowing who Cuaron was, said Martinez.

"She was a 'virgin' for these sorts of things - that's what allowed her to act so naturally," he said.

'Roma' Actress Brings Attention To Indigenous Roots In Hometown By CARRIE KAHN • FEB 22, 2019

Originally published on February 22, 2019 5:02 am

Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The movie "Roma," with its 10 Academy Award nominations, could walk away this Sunday a big winner, especially the movie's breakout star and best actress nominee, Yalitza Aparicio, who was discovered in a small town in southern Mexico. Her new stardom has brought a spotlight to that region's Indigenous roots, as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: In Tlaxiaco's main plaza on the steps of the town's colonial-era church, dozens of elementary school kids await their teacher's musical cue.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Playing trumpet).

KAHN: Dressed in traditional costumes, most of the area's approximately 50,000 residents are Indigenous. The kids rehearse for a performance this Sunday.

(SOUNDBITE OF BAND MUSIC)

KAHN: Sunday will be a crowded day in the town's main square. After the band finishes, a big-screen TV will be set up to watch the Oscar telecast and their hometown hero, Yalitza Aparicio, mingling among Hollywood stars. Miguel Angel Martinez, who runs the cultural center across the street, can't wait.

MIGUEL ANGEL MARTINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "The wonderful thing is Yalitza has her feet on the ground. She remains proud of where she comes from, her values and her ethnicity," says Martinez, though he admits he almost sabotaged Aparicio's big break.

MARTINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: The casting company searching for "Roma's" lead actress, an Indigenous domestic servant, sent him an email requesting his help. He said he deleted it, thinking it was a scam. But after the rep from the company personally assured him all was legit, he helped. Aparicio, who was on track to be a teacher, came reluctantly to the casting call and was the last to audition. The rest is local lore.

ALMA RAMIREZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: Alma Ramirez snacks on spicy and sweet snow cones with her two daughters in the square. She says everyone is thrilled for Aparicio, but she admits she's also a little jealous.

RAMIREZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "I'm envious," she laughs. "All those clothes, red carpet appearances," says Ramirez. "There aren't that many people in life that have such success," she says. Especially not many indigenous Mexicans. They are seldom seen in movies, on the cover of magazines or photographed in Prada and Gucci, as Aparicio has in recent months. That realm is limited to white, light-skinned Mexicans. Her sudden fame, as well as the movie's themes of Mexico's deep racial and class divides, has sparked much debate and backlash. One soap opera star was caught on video denigrating Aparicio with a vulgar slur. The governor of her home state of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, says Aparicio doesn't need anyone to come to her defense.

ALEJANDRO MURAT HINOJOSA: She clearly has opened all of these avenues. And this is a great step towards changing these conceptions of Mexico.

KAHN: The movie has definitely opened up discussion about the plight of domestic workers in Mexico, even aiding advocacy for labor protection laws. Unfortunately, other themes haven't gotten as much play, like the decades-long land disputes and violence persistent in Aparicio's Oaxaca. The mayor in her hometown was murdered in January, right after taking the oath of office. Local artist Jesus Gonzalez says the murders shook everyone, but Aparicio's success has given the town new hope.

JESUS GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "She is like an emblem for us," he says. "We recognize her strong spirit in breaking from Mexico's past into a better future." Gonzalez is painting a 16-foot-tall mural of her off the town's main square. He's hurrying. He's got to get it done before Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Tlaxiaco, Mexico. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

INAH to reopen exhibition of artifacts found in Oaxaca tomb The pieces were uncovered at the Monte Albán archaeological site in 1932

One of the items on display at an exhibition that is reopening in Oaxaca.

INAH to reopen exhibition of artifacts found in Oaxaca tomb

The pieces were uncovered at the Monte Albán archaeological site in 1932

Friday, February 22, 2019

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will reopen an exhibition in Oaxaca today that features more than 400 valuable artifacts found in a tomb at the Monte Albán archaeological site in 1932.

The pieces discovered by archaeologist Alfonso Caso in tomb seven of the Zapotec site and dubbed “The Treasure of Monte Albán” include objects made of gold, jade, rock crystal and jaguar bones, among other materials.

The exhibition, made up of a total of more than 600 artifacts, is housed in Room 3 of the Oaxaca Museum of Cultures and will be inaugurated at a ceremony at 7:00pm. The general public can visit starting tomorrow.

Curators have updated the exhibition by including plaques offering new interpretations of the pieces, while the integration of modern technology will also contribute to providing an enhanced experience for visitors.

The name of the exhibition is Tomb Seven: The Place of the Ancestors.

An artifact from tomb seven.

INAH archaeologist and exhibition curator Nelly Robles told the newspaper El Economista that as a result of new research it is now known that “tomb seven was an ossuary and not a tomb for a specific dignitary.”

She said that both Zapotec and Mixtec people used the tomb, the latter leaving human remains, jewels and precious materials that were “the relics of their ancestors.”

Robles added that the Mixtec people also held ceremonies at the tomb at which they asked for favors from their deities.

The presiding gods of the tomb were Mictlantecuhtli, Mesoamerican god of death and the underworld, and Xipe Tótec, a life-death-rebirth deity.

Both are represented in the different objects found by Caso in 1932, Robles said.

The archaeologist explained that the Mixtec people first started carrying out rituals at the tomb around 1350 AD and continued to do so until the early days of the Spanish colonial era.

The reopening of “The Treasure of Monte Albán” to the public is part of celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the creation of INAH in 1939.

Source: El Economista (sp)