In 1931 the Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein travels to Guanajuato to direct his film Que viva México. There he encounters a new culture and its dealings with death; he also discovers another revolution – and his own body. Chaperoned by his guide Palomino Cañedo, he vulnerably experiences the ties between Eros and Thanatos. Once there, he gets into difficulties with his American financier, the novelist Upton Sinclair. He undergoes the transition from a conceptual filmmaker into an artist fascinated by the symbols of Mexican culture.
In his inimitable innovative visual style, Peter Greenaway paints a vivid portrayal of the illustrious Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, depicting him as an eccentric genius and libertine filled with the hubris of being a world-famed star director.
“I’ve been studying Eisenstein all my life. I have investigated who he was, watched all his films, read everything he’d probably ever written, visited his library and been to places where he has filmed. I’ve put all this together in this film about this great man I’ve admired for a long time, one of the very few innovators in cinema and great visualist.” (Peter Greenaway)
Peter Greenaway
Born in Wales in 1942. After graduating in fine art he worked as an editor at the British government’s Central Office of Information. Shortly afterwards he started to make his own films. He rose to international prominence as director of feature-length films and documentaries. Besides a filmmaker, Greenaway is also a fine artist, author and creator of installations and multimedia projects.
filmography (selection)
1982 The Draughtsman’s Contract
1987 The Belly of an Architect
1988 Drowning by Numbers
1989 The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
1991 Prospero’s Books
1993 The Baby of Mâcon
1996 The Pillow Book
1999 8 ½ Women
2003 The Tulse Luper Suitcases
2007 Nightwatching
2008 Rembrandt’s J’Accuse
2012 Goltzius and the Pelican Company
2015 Eisenstein in Guanajuato