Natalia Almada

Director Natalia Alamada presented her documentary EL GENERAL to a standing room only crowd during the opening night of Tucson Cine Mexico 2010!

The past and the present collide as filmmaker Natalia Almada brings to life audio recordings she inherited about her great-grandfather Plutarco Elias Calles, a revolutionary general who became president in 1924. In his time, Calles was called “El Bolshevique” and “El Jefe Maximo” (the foremost chief). Today, he is remembered as “el Quema-Curas” (priest –burner) and as a dictator who ruled through puppet presidents until he was exiled in 1936. Through his daughter’s recordings, EL GENERAL moves between the memories of a daughter grappling with history’s portrait of her father and the weight of his legacy on the country today. Time is blurred in this complex and visually arresting portrait of a family and country living under the shadows of the past.