Interview with Viviana García-Besné

Abstract

In this interview, filmmaker and archivist Viviana García-Besné discusses her work as the founder of the Permanencia Voluntaria archive and the Baticine microcinema in Tepoztlán, Mexico. As the descendent of a family involved in various areas of the Mexican film industry since the early twentieth century, García-Besné has become an advocate for Mexican popular cinema that has long been dismissed by critics and institutions adopting class-based conceptions of cultural value and ‘quality’ cinema. Accordingly, the central mission of Permanencia Voluntaria includes both restoring films produced by her family and advocating for increased appreciation and institutional support for popular cinema and the audiences who enjoy it.