Preceded by: Selections from Animaquiladora: Several short animated works from the ever-acerbic team of Alex Rivera and Lalo Lopez, including Why Cybraceros?, a chilling speculation about bracero laborers meeting the fully digitized economy. (U.S., 1997, 8:53 mins, 3/4" Video, From Animaquiladora)Lifting brazenly from a murky pool of news coverage, Hollywood and Mexican cinema, historical footage, and television programming, Gloria Ribé creates collage-style commentaries about the plundering of Mexico's economy and culture. Caustically astute, From Here, From This Side (24 mins) focuses on the "Mexican miracle," that period in the late seventies/early eighties when the oil-driven economy promised untold affluence for even the lowliest campesino. Not miraculously, the "miracle" failed within a few years, leaving, miracle-of-miracles, a huge foreign debt. Central to Ribé's wry analysis is the awareness that the misnomers and distortions disseminated by mainstream media alter the course of cross-border relations. In The Tequila Effect (co-directed by José Manuel Pintado, 40 mins), Mexico's modern history is one of intoxication and delirium with occasional periods of sobriety-a stumbling-drunk Cantinflas juxtaposed with the sedate stiffness of President Zedillo. This irreverent work points to the contradictory character of Mexico, subtly siding with the revolutionary tradition as a form of intentional inebriation. Here, the Zapatistas appear soberly walking a straight line toward the future.-Steve Seid