Pancho Villa & Other Stories

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Smithsonian Portrait Gallery, Hawaii International Film Festival, Ajijic Festival Internacional de Cine Festival, Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Chicago Latino Film Festival, San Francisco Cine Festival, New York Latino Film Festival, Latin American Film Festival of Trieste, Italy, San Antonio Cinefestival Award Winner, and the Newport Beach Film Festival

This remarkable account of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and one of its most important and enigmatic protagonists, Francisco "Pancho" Villa, is a unique achievement in the realm of historical documentaries. Producer Phillip Rodriguez places at the center of the film the personal stories of men and women—now deceased—who were witnesses to and participants in the Revolution.

These oral histories, which were acquired from 1986 to 1994 and conducted throughout Mexico and the southwestern U.S., flow seamlessly between historical incident and legends associated with the deeds of Villa and his La Division del Norte. Among those whose stories unfold are Soledad Seanez, the wife of Villa at the time of his death, residents of Columbus, New Mexico, who recall Villa’s attack on the U.S., and those who fought both with and against Villa.

The film is extraordinary for its pioneering use of new digital technologies that offer a compelling and contemporary look at rare vintage photographs of Villa and the Revolution and motion picture footage shot by American and Mexican film crews on historic battlefields. These images are skillfully interwoven with the words and memories of those interviewed to create a fascinating, sometimes mysterious, and always riveting historical exploration of Mexican and 20th-century history.