Sergei Eisenstein ¡MEXICO! (Blu-ray)

In December, 1930, Russian revolutionary film director Sergei Eisenstein travelled to Mexico to experience firsthand its “geographical, ethnological, cultural and historical diversity,” and to make a film he would call ¡Que Viva México! After shooting more than 30 hours of 35mm film—striking compositions of centuries-old Mayan ruins, traditional funeral rites of the indigenous people, the raucous festivities of Día de Muertos, and so much more—Eisenstein departed Mexico in April 1932, without having begun to edit. The footage instead made its way into the hands of other filmmakers, who sought to approximate his bold vision. A first of its kind, SERGEI EISENSTEIN ¡MÉXICO! assembles newly restored versions of those films derived from Eisenstein's legendary Mexican footage: Thunder Over Mexico (1933) and Death Day (1934) by Sol Lesser, Time in the Sun (1940) by Marie Seton, Bell & Howell’s four-volume Mexican Symphony by Willam F. Kruse and Egon Mauthner (1940-41), and the debut of Idols Behind Altars (2026), a diptych of Eisenstein's raw footage conceived by Bruce Posner with a new score by Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky). This special two-disc collection also includes rare outtakes, photographs, sketches, and documentaries featuring historians and filmmakers who savor the brilliance of the Mexican footage, and discuss the challenges in representing a masterpiece which exists only in tantalizing fragments.