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Victims of Sin (Víctimas del pecado)
Directed by Emilio Fernández

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“One of the 25 best foreign language movie musicals ever made . . .The musical sequences are raw, beautiful, and riveting . . . Fernández was a visionary populist filmmaker who took the stuff of pulpy potboilers and created works of surprising depth.”—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

Rarely screened in the United States and long due for rediscovery, Victims of Sin is famed Mexican director Emilio Fernández’s unique blend of film noir, melodrama, and musical.

Acting-dancing sensation Ninón Sevilla plays Violeta, a cabaret performer who adopts the abandoned child of Rita (Rita Montaner) and Rodolfo (Rodolfo Acosta), Violeta’s murderous pimp. Motherhood forces Violeta to give up her career, but the kindhearted club owner Santiago (Tito Junco) saves her from a life of poverty and prostitution—until Rodolfo, freed from prison, seeks to reclaim his son.

Best known for the award-winning María Candelaria (1944) and The Pearl (1947), Fernández infuses Victims with impassioned songs and performances by Sevilla, an icon of Mexican cinema and a purveyor of African, Caribbean, and Cuban dance styles. 1951, Mexico, 4K DCP, in Spanish with English subtitles, 84 minutes.