Emotionally explosive women’s pictures from Mexico’s Golden Age

Stronger Than Love: ¡Too Much Mexican Melodrama! is a touring programme of four visually lush, emotionally explosive films from Mexico’s Golden Age (1930s-1950s). Curated through a feminist lens, the programme celebrates melodrama’s heightened aesthetics and unruly passions as a radical space for female expression: on screen and behind the camera.

Often referred to as “women’s pictures” because of their emotional intensity, complex heroines and dedicated female fans, melodramas were also often a site for groundbreaking work from women filmmakers. From the charisma and creativity of stars such as Miroslava and Ninón Sevilla, to the innovative editing of Gloria Schoemann and the groundbreaking direction of Adela Sequeyro and Matilde Landeta, these classics showcase women’s artistry during a period when the Mexican film industry was at the height of its powers. Stronger Than Love: ¡Too Much Mexican Melodrama! reframes the melodrama as a subversive feminist space of passion and defiance, exemplifying the genre’s power to provoke, seduce and overwhelm.

Curated by Invisible Women. Stronger Than Love ¡Too Much Mexican Melodrama! is delivered with the support of BFI FAN, awarding funds from The National Lottery.