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
A truly stunning, beautiful and haunting concert in equal measure, Silvana Estrada’s sold-out Chicago show, as her voice filled out every corner of the venue. Absolutely worth the fact that we have to drive back to St. Louis at midnight to avoid the snow storm.
November 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM
A truly stunning, beautiful and haunting concert in equal measure, Silvana Estrada’s sold-out Chicago show, as her voice filled out every corner of the venue. Absolutely worth the fact that we have to drive back to St. Louis at midnight to avoid the snow storm.
Just a few highlights of the wonderful exhibit “Elizabeth Catlett, a Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies” at the Art Institute of Chicago, on show until January 4.
November 28, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Just a few highlights of the wonderful exhibit “Elizabeth Catlett, a Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies” at the Art Institute of Chicago, on show until January 4.
Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a masterclass in directing and acting, the kind of drama one wishes existed more but can only exist rarely, a Chekhovian film about the emotional prelude to a masterpiece. Truly extraordinary. In theaters.
November 27, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a masterclass in directing and acting, the kind of drama one wishes existed more but can only exist rarely, a Chekhovian film about the emotional prelude to a masterpiece. Truly extraordinary. In theaters.
A few film arrivals
November 26, 2025 at 10:57 PM
A few film arrivals
Break is a good time to clear some of my to-read shelves
November 25, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Break is a good time to clear some of my to-read shelves
Characteristically brilliant, this collection is a powerhouse built through Gurba’s uncanny skill of weaving images, events and languages through association and contiguity, fed by her curious and rhizome erudition. A great writer in the most playful control of her powers.
November 25, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Characteristically brilliant, this collection is a powerhouse built through Gurba’s uncanny skill of weaving images, events and languages through association and contiguity, fed by her curious and rhizome erudition. A great writer in the most playful control of her powers.
I did 25 minute interview in my book in St Louis in the Air at my local NPR station. This can be heard here or in your favorite podcast app
www.stlpr.org/show/st-loui...
www.stlpr.org/show/st-loui...
Why there’s no such thing as an ‘authentic’ taco
Tacos are a modern food, influenced by historical and cultural migrations, says Washington University professor and author Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado.
www.stlpr.org
November 24, 2025 at 10:53 PM
I did 25 minute interview in my book in St Louis in the Air at my local NPR station. This can be heard here or in your favorite podcast app
www.stlpr.org/show/st-loui...
www.stlpr.org/show/st-loui...
Eva Aridjis’ Goodbye Horses, a heartbreaking documentary on singer Q Lazarus, her tragic life, her disappearance and the way her royalties were stolen from her, a story of erasure of a brilliant Black woman, who befriended the Mexican director in her last years of life. In the Criterion Channel.
November 24, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Eva Aridjis’ Goodbye Horses, a heartbreaking documentary on singer Q Lazarus, her tragic life, her disappearance and the way her royalties were stolen from her, a story of erasure of a brilliant Black woman, who befriended the Mexican director in her last years of life. In the Criterion Channel.
This weekend, catching up with poetry.
November 24, 2025 at 2:43 AM
This weekend, catching up with poetry.
From the absolutely stunning exhibit Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea at the St Louis Art Museum, paired today by a 3D screening of Wim Wenders’s documentary. Some of these are site specific. If you are in St Louis or driving distance you should rush to see this. Closes January 25
November 23, 2025 at 9:09 PM
From the absolutely stunning exhibit Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea at the St Louis Art Museum, paired today by a 3D screening of Wim Wenders’s documentary. Some of these are site specific. If you are in St Louis or driving distance you should rush to see this. Closes January 25
Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, a brave and powerful thriller, shot in clandestinity in Iran, triggered by the story of a man who believes to have found his torturer, riveting and brilliant in form and content, arguably the most significant film of the year. In theaters.
November 23, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, a brave and powerful thriller, shot in clandestinity in Iran, triggered by the story of a man who believes to have found his torturer, riveting and brilliant in form and content, arguably the most significant film of the year. In theaters.
Para los que visitan la FIL, el cinco de diciembre tengo el gusto de presentar con Siglo XXI editores a Rafael Rojas, con Melissa Cordero Novo, y a Irmgard Emmelhainz con Aura García Junco. Por si andan por ahí.
November 22, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Para los que visitan la FIL, el cinco de diciembre tengo el gusto de presentar con Siglo XXI editores a Rafael Rojas, con Melissa Cordero Novo, y a Irmgard Emmelhainz con Aura García Junco. Por si andan por ahí.
Criterion’s 4K edition of Luis Buñuel’s El, the film Lacan taught to his students and a truly brilliant melodrama of paranoia with a subtext of rentier capitalism, in the 2022 Film Foundation-supporter restoration .
November 22, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Criterion’s 4K edition of Luis Buñuel’s El, the film Lacan taught to his students and a truly brilliant melodrama of paranoia with a subtext of rentier capitalism, in the 2022 Film Foundation-supporter restoration .
This months’s book arrivals
November 22, 2025 at 3:56 AM
This months’s book arrivals
This month’s film arrivals
November 22, 2025 at 1:57 AM
This month’s film arrivals
Andres Veiel’s Riefenstahl, a damning documentary on Leni’s Nazi affinities, backed up by found off-the record footage showing the ways she tried to narrate her life while negating her knowledge of the Holocaust. In Kino Film Collection.
November 21, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Andres Veiel’s Riefenstahl, a damning documentary on Leni’s Nazi affinities, backed up by found off-the record footage showing the ways she tried to narrate her life while negating her knowledge of the Holocaust. In Kino Film Collection.
I grabbed this from my to-read shelf when it won the NBA last night. I found it ingenious in its structure and powerfully written in the parts related to war, but I found the comic narrator overdone and it spoiled the novel to me to a degree. But that is just taste and it is a very strong novel
November 21, 2025 at 5:59 AM
I grabbed this from my to-read shelf when it won the NBA last night. I found it ingenious in its structure and powerfully written in the parts related to war, but I found the comic narrator overdone and it spoiled the novel to me to a degree. But that is just taste and it is a very strong novel
2 AM Nuevo bolero while reading playlist
Daphne Michelle- ¿En qué momento?
Daniel, me estás matando- Yo nunca te mentí
Jósean Log and Elsa y Elmar- Grecia
Los Rumberos y Bolela- Tu espejo es un mentiroso
Debí Nova- Un Bolero para Lola
La Santa Cecilia- Nuestro Juramento
Daphne Michelle- ¿En qué momento?
Daniel, me estás matando- Yo nunca te mentí
Jósean Log and Elsa y Elmar- Grecia
Los Rumberos y Bolela- Tu espejo es un mentiroso
Debí Nova- Un Bolero para Lola
La Santa Cecilia- Nuestro Juramento
November 20, 2025 at 8:08 AM
2 AM Nuevo bolero while reading playlist
Daphne Michelle- ¿En qué momento?
Daniel, me estás matando- Yo nunca te mentí
Jósean Log and Elsa y Elmar- Grecia
Los Rumberos y Bolela- Tu espejo es un mentiroso
Debí Nova- Un Bolero para Lola
La Santa Cecilia- Nuestro Juramento
Daphne Michelle- ¿En qué momento?
Daniel, me estás matando- Yo nunca te mentí
Jósean Log and Elsa y Elmar- Grecia
Los Rumberos y Bolela- Tu espejo es un mentiroso
Debí Nova- Un Bolero para Lola
La Santa Cecilia- Nuestro Juramento
Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a beautifully crafted, obsessively nerdy, perhaps too precious, tribute to the filming of Godard’s Breathless as a cypher for the French cinema revolution, carried by a dynamic screenplay and charming character performances by Marbeck and Deutch. In Netflix
November 20, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a beautifully crafted, obsessively nerdy, perhaps too precious, tribute to the filming of Godard’s Breathless as a cypher for the French cinema revolution, carried by a dynamic screenplay and charming character performances by Marbeck and Deutch. In Netflix
I am immensely happy that my dear friend Robin Myers received the National Book award alongside writer Gabriela Cabezón Cámara for her brilliant translation of a very daring book
November 20, 2025 at 2:34 AM
I am immensely happy that my dear friend Robin Myers received the National Book award alongside writer Gabriela Cabezón Cámara for her brilliant translation of a very daring book
I stayed up very late reading this brilliant book. Its first 136 pages are a satirical novel in the great Eastern European tradition (think Hasek or early Kundera) which then derives into a very intelligent autofiction about the question of the exile writer’s representation of the homeland.
November 18, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I stayed up very late reading this brilliant book. Its first 136 pages are a satirical novel in the great Eastern European tradition (think Hasek or early Kundera) which then derives into a very intelligent autofiction about the question of the exile writer’s representation of the homeland.
A fantastic and potentially very teachable book, asking what do people who resist eat, Mastrogiovanni writes moving chronicles departing from recipes by people fighting violence and extractivism, alongside with personal recipes tied to his personal memories. recommended for the food studies peeps.
November 18, 2025 at 4:26 AM
A fantastic and potentially very teachable book, asking what do people who resist eat, Mastrogiovanni writes moving chronicles departing from recipes by people fighting violence and extractivism, alongside with personal recipes tied to his personal memories. recommended for the food studies peeps.
Top 5 movie genres
Romcoms from everywhere except the US
Insurgent films from the Global South
K- and J-
Deterritorialized rather than globalized
Criterion bait
Romcoms from everywhere except the US
Insurgent films from the Global South
K- and J-
Deterritorialized rather than globalized
Criterion bait
Top 5 movie genres are:
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
Top 5 movie genres are:
People being shits at a dinner party
Rotting mansion, faded starlet/society beauty, high-camp fuckdown
Either nothing or everything happened, glacially slowly & visually stunningly
Woman is being haunted or maybe there’s actually a gross guy
Tilda Swinton hears a weird noise
People being shits at a dinner party
Rotting mansion, faded starlet/society beauty, high-camp fuckdown
Either nothing or everything happened, glacially slowly & visually stunningly
Woman is being haunted or maybe there’s actually a gross guy
Tilda Swinton hears a weird noise
November 17, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Top 5 movie genres
Romcoms from everywhere except the US
Insurgent films from the Global South
K- and J-
Deterritorialized rather than globalized
Criterion bait
Romcoms from everywhere except the US
Insurgent films from the Global South
K- and J-
Deterritorialized rather than globalized
Criterion bait
I am very excited to visit Wabash College tomorrow for a reading of Taco. Thank you to Julio Enríquez-Ornelas for his kind invitation. I hope friends in Indiana can stop by!
November 17, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I am very excited to visit Wabash College tomorrow for a reading of Taco. Thank you to Julio Enríquez-Ornelas for his kind invitation. I hope friends in Indiana can stop by!
Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, a bravura adaptation of Harwicz’s novel that depicts mental breakdown through hazy visuals and uncertainty about time and perception, led by Jennifer Lawrence in her best performance. In theaters.
November 16, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, a bravura adaptation of Harwicz’s novel that depicts mental breakdown through hazy visuals and uncertainty about time and perception, led by Jennifer Lawrence in her best performance. In theaters.