El Mariachi

Shot on a shoestring budget in northern Mexico, El Mariachi became a surprise hit and helped launch the career of director Robert Rodriguez’s career. The first of his Mexico Trilogy (which includes Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico), El Mariachi follows a traveling musician who is mistaken for a violent criminal and finds himself caught in the crosshairs of the local drug lord and his henchmen. (81 mins., 35mm)

Frederick Luis Aldama, Ohio State Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English and founder and director of LASER (Latino and Latin American Space for Enrichment Research), introduces the film and signs copies of his new book The Cinema of Robert Rodriguez (2014, University of Texas Press) at 6:30 PM in the Wexner Center Store.