Ignacio Sanchez Prado
@isanchezprado.bsky.social
Scholar of literature, cinema, gastronomy and Mexico. Post about that plus dogs.
Occasional Words: ignaciosanchezprado.substack.com
Occasional Words: ignaciosanchezprado.substack.com
Fernando Frias de la Parra’s Depeche Mode M, a concert film intertwined with a film essay on Mexico’s relationship to death, arguing that the band’s enormous popularity in the country is due to the interesection of the band’s style with the nation’s aesthetic and inclinations. In Netflix.
January 16, 2026 at 6:39 AM
Fernando Frias de la Parra’s Depeche Mode M, a concert film intertwined with a film essay on Mexico’s relationship to death, arguing that the band’s enormous popularity in the country is due to the interesection of the band’s style with the nation’s aesthetic and inclinations. In Netflix.
New 4K UHD edition of Satoshi Kon’s first film, Perfect Blue, an anime of madness and celebrity in the first years of the internet, and one of the inspirations for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.
January 16, 2026 at 3:05 AM
New 4K UHD edition of Satoshi Kon’s first film, Perfect Blue, an anime of madness and celebrity in the first years of the internet, and one of the inspirations for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.
I just taught a thrilling and exhausting three hour class in which I introduced the idea of “media theory” followed by an extensive close reading of excepts of three of Benjamin’s essays: Experience and poverty, The Storyteller and A Short History of Photography. Made me excited for the semester
January 13, 2026 at 2:24 AM
I just taught a thrilling and exhausting three hour class in which I introduced the idea of “media theory” followed by an extensive close reading of excepts of three of Benjamin’s essays: Experience and poverty, The Storyteller and A Short History of Photography. Made me excited for the semester
Reposted by Ignacio Sanchez Prado
Solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Minneapolis.
January 12, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Minneapolis.
Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April, one of the most riveting films I’ve ever seen about reproductive justice, centered on a doctor in the rural part of the Republic of Georgia accused of negligence after a baby dies in birth. In Canadian MUBI, later this year in the US.
January 11, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April, one of the most riveting films I’ve ever seen about reproductive justice, centered on a doctor in the rural part of the Republic of Georgia accused of negligence after a baby dies in birth. In Canadian MUBI, later this year in the US.
Not a fan of late Rushdie but I like this book, the three novellas at the core are ingenious and beautifully written even if he cannot always escape his schematic and pedagogical inclinations and the short stories that bookend the collection are very precise and well crafted.
January 8, 2026 at 5:40 AM
Not a fan of late Rushdie but I like this book, the three novellas at the core are ingenious and beautifully written even if he cannot always escape his schematic and pedagogical inclinations and the short stories that bookend the collection are very precise and well crafted.
Mexican poetry for early 2025
January 6, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Mexican poetry for early 2025
Dominga Sotomayor’s Limpia replaces the judicial aspects in Zeran’s novel for an observed if a bit dull portrayal of the ineludible gaps of class and the contained rage and repression in service labor. In Netflix.
January 6, 2026 at 6:47 AM
Dominga Sotomayor’s Limpia replaces the judicial aspects in Zeran’s novel for an observed if a bit dull portrayal of the ineludible gaps of class and the contained rage and repression in service labor. In Netflix.
I wrote this a week and a half ago and certainly did not anticipate the timing, but the first of my three yearly recaps is here if anyone is interested and has the bandwidth. I am doing books and films later this month.
January 5, 2026 at 5:21 PM
I wrote this a week and a half ago and certainly did not anticipate the timing, but the first of my three yearly recaps is here if anyone is interested and has the bandwidth. I am doing books and films later this month.
Ximena and Eduardo Lecuona’s No me sigas, Blumhouse’s first Mexican production, blending the story of an influencer in a haunted house with elements from 1970s local horror. In Hulu
January 5, 2026 at 8:19 AM
Ximena and Eduardo Lecuona’s No me sigas, Blumhouse’s first Mexican production, blending the story of an influencer in a haunted house with elements from 1970s local horror. In Hulu
Reposted by Ignacio Sanchez Prado
on this sunday-est of sundays, syllabus-ing for a new term
you're not alone against the oligarch agenda of cognitive deskilling, data capture, surveillance, and bias:
we've got assignment ideas, memes, recommended readings, o' captain speeches, syllabus policies, and so much more against-a-i.com
you're not alone against the oligarch agenda of cognitive deskilling, data capture, surveillance, and bias:
we've got assignment ideas, memes, recommended readings, o' captain speeches, syllabus policies, and so much more against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI -
against-a-i.com
January 4, 2026 at 2:59 PM
on this sunday-est of sundays, syllabus-ing for a new term
you're not alone against the oligarch agenda of cognitive deskilling, data capture, surveillance, and bias:
we've got assignment ideas, memes, recommended readings, o' captain speeches, syllabus policies, and so much more against-a-i.com
you're not alone against the oligarch agenda of cognitive deskilling, data capture, surveillance, and bias:
we've got assignment ideas, memes, recommended readings, o' captain speeches, syllabus policies, and so much more against-a-i.com
Not my cup of tea but the way this is written is brilliant. It perhaps would work better as a novella, but the rhythm of the prose, its cool detachment and the work with brief precise paragraphs and dialogue is admirable. I can see why it won the Booker even if I like Desai’s novel better.
January 4, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Not my cup of tea but the way this is written is brilliant. It perhaps would work better as a novella, but the rhythm of the prose, its cool detachment and the work with brief precise paragraphs and dialogue is admirable. I can see why it won the Booker even if I like Desai’s novel better.
Luis Ortega’s El Jockey, a work that continues the Argentine tradition of deadpan humor, with stellar visuals and an over the top thrilling plot. In disc and Prime Video.
January 4, 2026 at 4:01 AM
Luis Ortega’s El Jockey, a work that continues the Argentine tradition of deadpan humor, with stellar visuals and an over the top thrilling plot. In disc and Prime Video.
Bi Gan’s Resurrection, an artistic achievement that delivers an expressionist history of the cinematic language in its oneiric and uncanny forms, arguably one of the most aesthetically important films of the century so far, grounded in a dialectic between the affective and the hermetic. In theaters.
January 3, 2026 at 3:48 AM
Bi Gan’s Resurrection, an artistic achievement that delivers an expressionist history of the cinematic language in its oneiric and uncanny forms, arguably one of the most aesthetically important films of the century so far, grounded in a dialectic between the affective and the hermetic. In theaters.
Mail from Spain, a DeBolsillo box with the complete works of Kafka, the case slight ripped in shipping but nevertheless in good shape.
January 2, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Mail from Spain, a DeBolsillo box with the complete works of Kafka, the case slight ripped in shipping but nevertheless in good shape.
First night of the year working on a media theory in/on Latin America syllabus.
January 2, 2026 at 7:43 AM
First night of the year working on a media theory in/on Latin America syllabus.
Lionsgate Limited’s 25th Anniversary 4K UHD of Kevin Smith’s Dogma, freshly released from the claws of Harvey Weinstein’s limbo, an excellent edition with a fantastic transfer and a 90 minute documentary.
January 2, 2026 at 7:02 AM
Lionsgate Limited’s 25th Anniversary 4K UHD of Kevin Smith’s Dogma, freshly released from the claws of Harvey Weinstein’s limbo, an excellent edition with a fantastic transfer and a 90 minute documentary.
Zak Hilditch’s We Bury the Dead, a movie about loss wrapped around a well-conceived zombie story resulting not from a virus but from a US weapons test. Daisy Ridley has become excellent at performing solitude and grief in her acting. In theaters
January 2, 2026 at 2:27 AM
Zak Hilditch’s We Bury the Dead, a movie about loss wrapped around a well-conceived zombie story resulting not from a virus but from a US weapons test. Daisy Ridley has become excellent at performing solitude and grief in her acting. In theaters
Paul Feig’s The Housemaid effectively delivers its promise of good, trashy, campy fun, with Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney at the top of their game and a very well structured narrative, the kind of adult popcorn film I would like to see more of. In theaters.
January 1, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Paul Feig’s The Housemaid effectively delivers its promise of good, trashy, campy fun, with Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney at the top of their game and a very well structured narrative, the kind of adult popcorn film I would like to see more of. In theaters.
The last book arrivals of 2025
January 1, 2026 at 1:05 AM
The last book arrivals of 2025
12 excellent Latin American albums from 2025 to finish the year 1/3
December 31, 2025 at 10:59 PM
12 excellent Latin American albums from 2025 to finish the year 1/3
Cinematographe’s new Blu-Ray if Abel Ferrara’s stylish New Rose Hotel, a 1998 cyberpunk adaptation of a William Gibson story with a dream trio at the hemp: Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento.
December 31, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Cinematographe’s new Blu-Ray if Abel Ferrara’s stylish New Rose Hotel, a 1998 cyberpunk adaptation of a William Gibson story with a dream trio at the hemp: Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento.
Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme is truly excellent as a film and deeply uninteresting as a story, paradoxically expansive and narrow at the same time, ebbing and flowing between tedium and brilliance, opening little new territory after Uncut Gems. In theaters
December 30, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme is truly excellent as a film and deeply uninteresting as a story, paradoxically expansive and narrow at the same time, ebbing and flowing between tedium and brilliance, opening little new territory after Uncut Gems. In theaters