This Week… starting June 29 , 2014
Mark Your Calendars for 2015
These dates are all governed by the cycles of the Sun and/or Moon and most are associated with major holidays and celebrations in Yucatan.
July 2 & 31: Blue Moon
September 23 at 3:20 PM: Fall Equinox
September 27: Super Moon
September 28: Total Lunar Eclipse
December 21 at 10:48 PM: Winter Equinox
Izamal: An Invitation for Everyone June 25 – July 26
The Municipal Government of Izamal, Yucatan, in compliance with its commitment to promoting the Culture and Arts of the Municipality, through the House of Culture and the Regional Arts Center, invites you to come and celebrate with them throughout the next month. Individual events are listed below. Do plan on making a trip to the wonderful and magical city of Izamal.
Monday (Lunes) June 29, 2015
Movie: Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold
Note: This documentary is part of Documentary Series Mondialisation that lasts from May 31 through July 26.
(France, 2001). For over twenty years, the AIDS epidemic has threatened the future of all of humanity, especially on the African Continent. How is it that even with the urgency of an announced global catastrophe, neither individuals, institutions nor governments have succeeded in stopping the spread of this disease? This documentary contains the testimony of those who are involved in the struggle for life and makes us look closely at sometimes cynical political reality.
Location: Visual Arts Center, Calle 60 x 45
Time: 8:00 PM Monday
Admission: Free
Tuesday (Martes) June 30, 2015
Flute Quartet: Featuring Gabriela Loolbej Sánchez Chan
You will probably have the opportunity to experience more of these beautiful evenings of music in Merida than any other place in the Americas.
Location: Centro Cultural Jose Marti / Parque de Las Americas
Time: 8:00 PM, Tuesday
Admission: General: $50 pesos, Students and Inapam: $25 pesos
Movie: Little Children
(United States 2006). Director: Todd Field. Starring: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson, and Noah Emmerich. The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer, intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations in suburban Connecticut. In English with Spanish subtitles.
Location: Cairo Cinema, Calle 20 #98A x 15 y 17, Colonia Itzimná
Time: 9:00 PM Tuesday
Admission: Free
Wednesday (Miercoles) July 01, 2015
Movie: Klip
(Serbia 2012) Jasna is a beautiful teenager living in the poor southern suburbs of Belgrade. She likes to film everything around with a mobile camera phone. She makes videos of friends, family and Djole – the boy of her dreams. Jasna’s father is battling a terminal illness and her desperate mother accompanies him throughout this terrible battle. In Serbian with Spanish subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55, centro of Merida
Time: 6:00 PM Wednesday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Movie: Bad Hair
A nine-year-old boy’s preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55, centro of Merida
Time: 9:00 PM Wednesday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Thursday (Jueves) July 02, 2015
Movie: Rupestre
(Mexico 2014) The director of this film, Alberto Zúñiga, accepts the invitation of cultural promoter Jorge Pantoja, founder of Tianguis Popular, to document the history, life and motivations of a group of rockers that transformed the history of urban music of Mexico. Over 40 respondents give their testimony about the origin, importance and validity of the cultural movement that say Zuniga is like between rock’n’roll before 1980. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55, centro of Merida
Time: 6:00 PM Thursday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Movie: At the Abyss “The Big Sleep”
(United States 1946). Director: Howard Hawks. Starring: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he has seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.
Location: Videosala of the Olimpo, Calle 62 x 61
Time: 7:00 PM Thursday
Admission: Free
Concert: The Chamber Orchestra of Merida
This small orchestra is one of the best we have ever heard. Enjoy music under the stars!
Location: Parque de Santa Lucia, Calle 60 x 55
Time: 9:00 PM Thursday
Admission: Free
Movie: Ida
(Poland 2013) Poland 1962. Anna is a novice of 18, and is preparing to become a nun. Before that, the mother superior reveals that she has a living relative, her aunt Wanda and that she must meet her and the outside world before taking final vows. Wanda, a former judge of the Polish communist state discovers Anna’s origin. Her real name is Ida and she is Jewish by birth. On top of that, her family lived a tragic fate. Meetings between Anna and Wanda begin a journey in search of the roots of Ida, testing her faith. In Polish with Spanish subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55
Time: 9:00 PM Thursday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Cirque du Soleil Mexico
This is opening night of the Cirque de Soleil performances in Merida, which will continue into July.
Location: The Great Tent of Cirque du Soleil is set up in the parking lot of the Coliseo Yucatan.
Time: 9:00 PM
Tickets: on Sale at different locations
Movie: The Five Obstructions
(Denmark 2003). Director: Lars Von Trier. In 1967, Jorgen Leth made a 13-minute short film called The Perfect Human, a documentary about human behavior. In 2000, Lars von Trier challenged Leth to shoot five remakes of the short, each hampered by a condition that the director had to scrupulously respect. The result, five variations on the same theme, is an intelligent exercise in the art of filmmaking.
Location: Cairo Cinema, Calle 20 #98A x 15 y 17, Colonia Itzimná
Time: 9:00 PM Thursday
Admission: Free
Friday (Viernes) June 26, 2015
Movie: 20,000 Days on Earth
(United Kingdom 2014). Directors: Ian Forsyth, Jane Pollard. Documentary. 20,000 Days on Earth is an ode to creativity, original and full of lyricism, with music by Nick Cave. The film combines drama and reality, showing the routine of a fictional day in the life of a rock star, an intimate portrayal of his artistic process. This is the debut of the innovative visual artists Ian Forsyth and Jane Pollard as directors, with an original soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. In English with Spanish subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55, centro of Merida
Time: 6:00 PM Friday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Izamal: Opening of the Visual Arts Show
This show is of the work of visual art students. Themes are Alternative Realities, plus Myths and Legends.
Location: Galeria and Jardin del Centro de Arte y Cultura
Time: 7:00 PM at the Galeria and 7:30 PM at the Jardin del Centro de Arte y Cultura
Admission: Free
Movie: Rear Window
(United States 1954). Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. A wheelchair bound photographer spies on his neighbours from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Location: Videosala of the Olimpo, Calle 62 x 61
Time: 7:00 PM Friday
Admission: Free
Movie: One Minute for Conductors
(Spain 2013) More than 130 young conductors participate in the Antonio Pedrotti International Conducting Competition, in the Italian city of Trento. During one week they will have to pass several auditions to convince the international jury that one of them is the most talented young conductor they are looking for. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55, centro of Merida
Time: 9:00 PM Friday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Movie: The Last Temptation of Christ
(United States 2015). Director: Martin Scorsese. Stars Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel and Barbara Hershey, with appearances by Nehemiah Persoff, as a rabbi and David Bowie, as Pontius Pilate. The life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross. In English.
Location: Cairo Cinema, Calle 20 #98A x 15 y 17, Colonia Itzimná
Time: 9:00 PM Friday
Admission: Free
Saturday (Sabado) July 04, 2015
Movie: Like Father Like Son
(Japan 2013) Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth, he must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55, centro of Merida
Time: 6:00 PM Saturday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Movie: To Catch a Thief
(United States 1955). Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. When a reformed jewel thief is suspected of returning to his former occupation, he must ferret out the real thief in order to prove his innocence.
Location: Videosala of the Olimpo, Calle 62 x 61
Time: 7:00 PM Saturday
Admission: Free
Concert: Independent Music Tour
This performance is under the direction of Jairo Couoh Pech.
Location: Auditorium of the Olimpo, Calle 62 x 61
Time: 8:00 PM Saturday
Admission: General: $50 pesos, Students and Inapam: $25 pesos
Movie: I Killed My Mother
(Canada 2009). Director: Xavier Dolan. A teenager gradually developed a visceral hatred of his mother, a passive woman who conveys feelings of guilt. Everything about her is irritating, from her vulgar behavior to her bad taste in clothes. But, as many reproaches as the boy sent her way, she continued to feign indifference. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Location: Cairo Cinema, Calle 20 #98A x 15 y 17, Colonia Itzimná
Time: 9:00 PM Saturday
Admission: $35 pesos
Movie: Sky Over Berlin
(Germany 1987 ) An angel tires of overseeing human activity wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal. In German with Spanish subtitles.
Location: LA 68, Calle 68 at Calle 55, centro of Merida
Time: 9:00 PM Saturday
Admission: $35 pesos, $15 pesos students
Movies: 4th of July Marathon Ghibli – Eight Hours of Movies
My Neighbor Totoro
In the 50s, a Japanese family moved to the countryside. Two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, befriend Totoro, a spirit of the forest. The father is a university professor who stimulates the imagination of his daughters by telling them tales and magical stories about goblins, ghosts and protective household spirits, while the mother is ill in the hospital.
Princess Mononoke
In order to heal the wound caused by a mad boar, young Ashitaka goes in search of the deer god because only he can release the spell. Throughout his journey, he discovers how the forest animals are fighting men who are willing to destroy Nature.
Spirited Away
Chihiro is a ten year old girl who is traveling by car with her parents. After passing through a tunnel, they come to a fantastic world, where there is no place for human beings. This world is only for first and second class gods. When she discovers that her parents have been turned into pigs, Chihiro is lonely and frightened.
Howl’s Moving Castle
This is the story of Sophie, a young woman who lives with the burden of a terrible curse that gives her the appearance of an old woman. Sophie decides to seek help from the wizard Howl, who lives in a walking castle. But perhaps it is Howl who needs the help of Sophie. In Japanese with Spanish subtitles.
Location: Cairo Cinema, Calle 20 #98A x 15 y 17, Colonia Itzimná
Time: 12:00 AM Saturday
Admission: $95 pesos
Sunday (Domingo), July 05, 2015
El Mundial de la Cochinita
All the Cochinita you can eat and Horchata you can drink. Profit benefits institution VYDAS.
Location: Siglo XXI Convention Center on the road to Progreso
Time: 8:00 AM Sunday
Admission: $100 pesos per adult and $60 pesos per child
Documentary about Nature
Location: Museum of Natural History, Next to the Zoo
Time: 12:00 PM Sunday
Admission: Free
Concert: Emiliano Buenfil and La ChanCil Tropical
This performance is under the direction of Sandra Gayou Soto. Do try to see this one. They are wonderful!
Location: Auditorium of the Olimpo, Calle 62 x 61
Time: 6:00 PM Sunday
Admission: General: $50 pesos, Students and Inapam: $25 pesos
Izamal: Classical Dance: “Atravesando Fronteras” (No Borders)
Location: Jardin del Centro de Arte y Cultura, Izamal
Time: 7:30 PM
Admission: Free
Movie: A Married Woman
France 1964). Director: Jean Luc Godard. This movie tells the story of 24 hours in the life of Charlotte (Macha Meril), a married Parisian woman who has an affair with another man (Bernard Noel). When she becomes pregnant, Charlotte will have to decide which of the two men in her life is the father of her child. Narration is by Jean-Luc Godard. In French with Spanish subtitles.
Location: Cairo Cinema, Calle 20 #98A x 15 y 17, Colonia Itzimná
Time: 9:00 PM Sunday
Admission: TBD
Monday (Lunes) July 06, 2015
No events to report yet
Coming Soon
The Roar of Freedom – Monday, July 6
“The Roar of Freedom” was written to remind you that you are on a mission here on Earth. That we’re all here to play a game in a body; a game called “live your dream”. Every player can now go through 
the process that The Roar of Freedom stands for, freeing our minds to live from our Hearts again. During his personal journey, immersing himself deep into the Mayan culture, Tom dug up the “3-Step Program To Free Your Mind.” At its core resides an ancient Mayan method that you, too, can easily apply to twenty-first century daily life, to break FREE and live YOUR dream! Come tonite for a brief presentation of the book and to be empowered by the “Roar of Freedom” meditation/tool, a journey into the Heart, and/or Silent transformation ritual.
Location:Flow Holistic Center/Moniques Bakery
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 PM Monday
Admission: $150 pesos or buy the book for $330 pesos and get in free! You can decide at the end of the workshop!
Merida English Library Wine Tasting – Thursday, July 9
July’s Evening of Merida Magic will be held at “iiches,” which is Maya for “great friends.” This restaurant cannot help but be a winner. It is being opened by Elliot Diaz, of Tanino’s, and its chef is Luis Barocio, owner of Escuela Culinaria del Sureste in Merida. Do plan on attending this great event.
Location: iiches Restaurant (directions in your ticket)
Time: 7:00 PM
Admission: MEL members: $250 pesos, non-members: $300 pesos .Tickets now on sale at the Merida English Library.
Valladolid English Library Lecture – Thursday, July 9
It is a great pleasure for Valladolid English Library to invite you to the “Past to Present: Cultural Heritage and Collaborative Archaeology in the Maya Region” Presentation. The lecture will be given by Patricia McAnay, Ivan Batun Alpuche, Sarah Rowe and Maia Dedrick.
Location:The Palapa Xoco Loco at Casa Hamaca, Valladolid
Time: 7:30 PM Thursday
Admission: $50 pesos donation appreciated
Jehovah’s Witnesses Special Assembly – Saturday, July 18, 2015
This event is in English: The lessons of the Bible will be presented in everyday terms for everyday life. This event is open to the public and about 400 people are expected to attend, with not all of them being Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is a semi-annual event that attracts interested people from around the entire Yucatan Peninsula.
Location: Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Time: 9:40 AM to 3:55 PM
Admission: Entry and seating are free.
More Information: Larry Zedwick
Izamal: Two Summer Courses for Kids July 20 – July 31
The first one is: Knowing Bees, Sweet Companions of the Mayab
For: Ages 9 to 12
Time: Monday – Friday: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Admission: Free (space limited, enroll as soon as possible)
The second class is: Development of traditional musical instruments in the Mayan world
For: Ages 9 to 16
Time: Monday – Friday: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Admission: Free (space limited, enroll as soon as possible)
Location: CECIDH SEGEY (former tourist hostel, now cultural center)
More information: Call: 01 (988) 954-0346
7th Annual Habla Teacher Institute – August 1-7, 2015
Pre-Institute Workshops July 30-31, 2015 (included in overall institute cost)
The concept of this year’s institute will be storytelling as a way of developing original work across all mediums of expression. In tribute to Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Márquez’s memoir Living to Tell the Tale are this year’s core texts. They will also respond to photographs from Mexican photographers Graciela Iturbide and Flor Garduño. They will use these texts to demonstrate universal processes for developing literacy and language that can be applied in any setting and with any age group. For more information visit their website www.habla.org
Valladolid English Library Summer Camp
July 20th to July 31st and August 3th to August 14th
They have two 2-week sessions:
July 20th to July 31st for young people from 12 to 15 years old;
August 3th to August 14th for children from 6 to 11 years old.
They would like to offer scholarships to help families in town. In the last Easter camp, they offered scholarships for police families. If anyone is interested in providing one or more scholarships, please let them know right away so they can begin to look for qualifying families!
Location: Valladolid English Library vel [dot] library [dot] 1 [at] gmail [dot] com
Time: TBA
Admission: $350 pesos per child. Family discount second child, third child.
8th Annual Whale Shark Festival – July 18-24
A cultural extravaganza that showcases the achievements, traditions and environmental splendor of Isla Mujeres. Last year 5,000 people attended the family-friendly Whale Shark Festival, where guests can swim with whale sharks, the largest fish in the ocean and an endangered species. They can also join in traditional dancing, enjoy local food and work by local artisans, visit the turtle farm, snorkel and dive the reefs surrounding the Island and more.
Location: Isla Mujeres
Time: Various
Tickets: Check the website here: www.whalesharkfest.com
Concert: Jazz en el Mar – Friday, July 31
This is a concert by the Big Band of Merida, with three singer-songwriters: Aleks Syntek, Natalia LaFourcade, and Kalimba. The performance is under the direction of Daniel Zlotnik.
Location: Puerto de Altura, Progreso
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: The sale of tickets is now open to the public through http://www.elektrotickets.mx/, cafeterías Segafredo (Gran Plaza, Plaza las América and Centro) and el Centro de Convenciones Yucatán Siglo XXI. Ticket prices are: $2,180, $1,580, $1,180, $780 and $ 560 pesos
Have an event you want to promote? Email us at info [at] yucatanliving [dot] com and we’ll be happy to list it in our Events listing and our Month-at-a-Glance Calendar
