Premiere Restoration

One of the most exciting repertory rediscoveries of the year, VICTIMS OF SIN is a unique blend of film noir, melodrama, and musical from famed Mexican director Emilio Fernández. Acting dancing sensation Ninón Sevilla plays Violeta, a cabaret performer who adopts the abandoned child of a murderous pimp (Acosta). Motherhood forces Violeta to give up her career, but the kindhearted club owner Santiago (Junco) saves her from a life of poverty and prostitution—until Rodolfo, freed from prison, seeks to reclaim his son. Best known for the award-winning María Calendaria (1944) and The Pearl (1947), Fernández infuses VICTIMS with impassioned songs and performances by Sevilla, an icon of Mexican cinema and a purveyor of African, Caribbean, and Cuban dance styles. – adapted from notes by Janus Films

“The musical sequences are raw, beautiful, and riveting… Fernández was a visionary populist filmmaker who took the stuff of pulpy potboilers and created works of surprising depth.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

“Few films have ever astonished me more on first viewing than Emilio Fernandez’s explosive Victims of Sin.” – Imogen Sara Smith, Criterion Current

VICTIMS OF SIN was restored from the original 35mm nitrate camera negative by Peter Conheim (Cinema Preservation Alliance/USA) and Viviana Garcia-Besné (Permanencia Voluntaria/Mexico). Permanencia Voluntaria and Cinema Preservation Alliance co-produced the preservation effort with assistance from IMCINE and the Academy Film Archive, bringing VICTIMS OF SIN back to the screen with a clarity and depth not seen since its original release.