Lila Downs
Birth : 1968-09-09, Oaxaca, Mexico
History
Ana Lila Downs Sánchez, best known as Lila Downs (born September 9, 1968), is an American–Mexican singer-songwriter and actress. She performs her own compositions as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music. She also incorporates indigenous Mexican influences and has recorded songs in many indigenous languages such as Mixtec, Zapotec, Mayan, Nahuatl and Purépecha. Born and raised in Oaxaca, she primarily studied at the Institute of Arts by Oaxaca and briefly attended University of Minnesota, before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She soon began performing in the traditional music scene of Oaxaca City.
Lila Downs
Self
Songs
Cielo is a mother whose teenage daughter is kidnapped in Northern Mexico. When the authorities offer no support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands and transforms from housewife into a vengeful militant.
Self - Performer
Nana Petra (voice)
The peace of a small town is endangered when a corporation wants to destroy the mountain that protects them. A girl named Copi and her best friend Xico, a Xoloitzcuintle dog, will go into the mountains to try to save the town.
Lila Downs
Herself
Lila Downs
Chile is one of the most important ingredients in Mexican culture. It is a fundamental piece of Mexicanness and its use goes far beyond gastronomy. "El Son Del Chile Frito" emerges from a recognition of the cultural diversity of Oaxaca, comparing it with the same variety that this species has. Just as chile is a fundamental part of our daily life, the traditions and customs of the area are the basis of the identity and sense of belonging of any Mexican.
Narrador
Lila Downs
Music
Lila Downs
Herself
Chavela Vargas and Federico García Lorca are the main characters of this story. Poetry and music are the places of their meetings. Chavela explains when he lived in the same room where Federico García Lorca lived decades ago, was visited by a bird that contained the soul of the Spanish poet. In her last year of life, Chavela fulfills her last wish: to make a tribute to Spanish poet and finally meet him in the ranks of death. The Nightingale and the Night is a documentary that chronicles the transition from Chavela life to death, her union with Federico, dissolving the borders between reality and dreams.
Herself
My grandfather fought alongside Pancho Villa, became Master Mason, was an elected official who represented Oaxaca three times, and president of the national Association of Cattle Hands. In 1942, he formed the Legion of Mexican Fighters, a group of 100,000 cattle hands training to repel a possible Nazi invasion in Mexico. His story of success, however, held a secret that affected my family, and that I discovered while making this documentary.
Music
My grandfather fought alongside Pancho Villa, became Master Mason, was an elected official who represented Oaxaca three times, and president of the national Association of Cattle Hands. In 1942, he formed the Legion of Mexican Fighters, a group of 100,000 cattle hands training to repel a possible Nazi invasion in Mexico. His story of success, however, held a secret that affected my family, and that I discovered while making this documentary.
Herself
Self
Includes the concert film, a “making of the concert” 30 minute documentary film shot in Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit, and Guadalajara, entitled “Live It To Believe It,” along with a live CD from December 14, 2013. Superstar performances at this concert event include Elan Atias, Chocquibtown, Lila Downs, Gloria Estefan, Juanes, Miguel, Fher Olvera (of Mana), Niña Pastori, Samuel Rosa (of Skank), Cindy Blackman Santana, Salvador Santana, Romeo Santos, Soledad, and Diego Torres.
Priest / REN Manager
Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.
Ranchera Singer
Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.
Lila Downs
Eight short stories of seduction and illicit encounters between lovers, filled with humor and eroticism, which use a circular structure located in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of a colonial city of Mexico.
Sophia
A stifled, small-town man stuck in a dead end life, runs away to Mexico to be a mariachi singer. MARIACHI GRINGO is a musical tour-de-force exploring the reality of "following your dreams" across cultural, personal, social and geographical borders.
Self
From Diego Luna and Alejandro Fernandez, to Carla Morrison and Chavela Vargas, Duncan Bridgeman weaves a cinematic tapestry composed of original songs and insights from the most iconic artists and performers of contemporary Mexico. With striking visuals, the movie captures the rich diversity of Mexican geography, art, music, and culture. It is a rare look at the country's real identity, and an unparalleled celebration of what it truly means to be "Hecho en Mexico."
Lila Downs
Lila Downs
Cantante
Victor, a successful and well-respected businessman, is obsessed by the legend that an indigenous woman told him when he was a child. Victor lives a conventional life with a family that knows and complains about his constant infidelities. When the woman is dying, she sends for Victor and her son Jose Francisco, who is working as his chauffeur. They both answer the summons. Their lives take an unexpected turn.
Self
Lila Downs
Mamá
Marco is a boy who dreams of flying. But in the world he lives in, his feet feel glued to the earth. A conceited crow helps him to find out how children can fly
Self
A drama steeped in Portugal's Fado music culture.
Music
Producer
Lila Downs
Herself - Performer
Frida Kahlo (voice)
Never before has the extraordinary life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo been framed in relation to the full spectrum of the historical and cultural influences that shaped her. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FRIDA KAHLO explores the 20th century icon who became an international sensation in the worlds of modern art and radical politics.
Lila Downs
Lila Downs
The illusion and joy of Christmas arrives from the four cardinal points of Latin America. The film recreates a typical Christmas party with Puerto Rican and Latin American artists, whom convey how Christmas is celebrated in their countries.
Woman
Tango Singer
A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.
Lila Downs
