‘October 2 is not forgotten’: These films reveal what happened in the 1968 ‘Tlatelolco Massacre’

55 years after what happened on that terrible October 2nd, 1968, which is “not to be forgotten”, Mexicans remember the massacre of students who demonstrated in Mexico City and were deprived of their lives by orders of the government of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, which became a historical event.

The massacre of that day has been chronicled in many films, series, television programs and books that even today continue to touch the hearts of Mexicans.

Here we present some of the films that tell what happened on October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, Tlatelolco, Mexico City.

1. Red Dawn

Without a doubt it is one of the most famous, told from an apartment in the Chihuahua building, in which Jorge Fons tells a fictional account of what happened on that tragic day.

Year: 1989
Actors: María Rojo, Héctor Bonilla, Jorge Fegan, Ademar Arau, Bruno Bichir, Demián Bichir and Eduardo Palomo.
Awards: It earned 9 Ariel Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Editing, and Best Original Story.
Where to see it: Youtube

2. Tlatelolco, summer of ’68

It is a story of romance with political intrigue surrounding the student movement in the months leading up to the 1968 Olympics.

Carlos Bolado’s film offers a new look at the events.

It premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival and in 2018, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1968 movement, and, blaming attempted government censorship, was re-released in the form of a 12-episode miniseries, with several unreleased scenes, and aired on UNAM TV.

Year: 2013
Actors: Cassandra Ciangherotti, Christian Vazquez, Alex Perea.
Where to see it: Youtube

3. The Scream

This documentary by Leobardo López Arretche offers the unique cinematic testimony through the student movement of 1968 in Mexico City, from the month of July until the massacre of October 2nd in Tlatelolco. It addresses images from the protests and repression until they culminate with the opening of the Olympic Games.

Students from the University Center for Cinematic Studies (CUEC) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) collected approximately 8 hours of footage.

Year: 1973
Where to see it: Youtube

4. Delete from memory

Story based on real events that tells the life of Germán Acosta, a journalist assigned to write about the unsolved murder of Diana Inés, better known as “the case of the package”, who died in 1968.

It is a love story that transforms into a story of unsolved persecutions and murders in the context of the 1968 student massacre.

Year: 2011
Actors: Adalberto Parra, René Campero, Diana García, Alan Alarcón, Aleyda Gallardo, Manuel Cepeda, Kariam Castro
Where to see it: Prime video

5. The massacre of Tlatelolco

This documentary by Matías Gueilburt explores the political context of 1968 in Mexico, juxtaposed with what was happening elsewhere in the world, how students took to the streets to demand reform, and the government’s response that unleashed one of the bloodiest massacres in history of Mexico. modern.

Year: 2016
Where to see it: Prime Video and Vix

6. Similarities

On the rainy early morning of October 2, 1968, eight characters waiting for a truck at a remote station in the middle of nowhere to head to Mexico City begin to fall victim to a strange phenomenon.

It is the only film that does not directly talk about the events that happened during the Tlatelolco massacre, nor about the student movement, but rather it is a horror film whose situation occurs on October 2.

Year: 2016
Actors: Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Fernando Becerril.
Awards: It won many awards and recognitions at festivals such as Morbido Film Fest, Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival and Fantastic Cinema Festival of Catalonia.
Where to see it: Prime video

7. Tlatelolco, the keys of slaughter

This documentary brings together all the film evidence known about the events of October 2nd. An investigation uncovering unpublished footage and audio to reveal the dark mechanisms set in motion in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas massacre.

Year: 2003
Where to see it: Prime video