''499'' is a 2020 Mexican-American

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

film straddling documentary and fiction, directed by Rodrigo Reyes. The film is a creative exploration of the legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico, 500 years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. The film had its international premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the best cinematography award in the documentary competition, as well as winning the Special Jury Award at

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

the same year. It also won the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Golden Frog Prize for Best Docudrama. ''499'' has received support from several organizations, including Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, and the Mexican Film Institute.

Synopsis

A Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

is forced to return to modern Mexico and bear witness to the stories of victims of today's violence. Through surreal imagery and immersive storytelling, ''499'' explores the legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico, nearly five-hundred years after

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

conquered the

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...

Release

''499'' was shown at many film festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020. *

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

* Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia * Portland International Film Festival * Sofia International Film Festival * International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam * The International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage

Reception

Director

Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...

wrote about the film "Rodrigo Reyes has created a strong, beautiful and disturbing film that seems to occupy a genre all its own... 499 deftly weaves brutality with tender beauty, and harsh reality with the realm of dreams." On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . Bobby LePire of ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' calls it "a spellbinding movie anchored by a reliable performance by Eduardo San Juan Breña..." Critic Carlos Aguilar reflects on the film as "a truly brilliant accomplishment of unconventional storytelling, form and theme coalesce to open a portal where textbook history becomes an active entity and clashes with the present for a forward-thinking exploration."

References

External links

* * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, 499, 499 2020 films 2020 documentary films Mexican documentary films 2020s Spanish-language films Films shot in Mexico 2020s English-language films American documentary films 2020s American films 2020s Mexican films