Film list

[agave-is-life--Film-image]
Agave is Life 2014 59'
    Directed by Meredith Dreiss David Brown .
Agave is Life is a documentary film about mankind’s 10,000 year-long symbiotic alliance with the marvelous agave plant, from which tequila, Mexico’s iconic distilled spirit, is derived. The
Central America Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany Food History
[cakchiquel-maya-of-san-antonio-palopo--Film-image]
Cakchiquel Maya of San Antonio Palopó 1987 52'
    Directed by Bruce MacDonald .
The documentary shows how Cakchiquel Maya of a village on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala adapted to changes that took place in the decades before the film was made, when the lake became a favoured spot
Central America Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
[campo-9--Film-image]
Campo 9 2013 25'
    Directed by Carlos R. Rivero Uicab .
Carlos, the director of the documentary, worked for four years with Abraham and his family of Mennonites who have lived in the Campeche region for over a decade. Abraham mainly worked cutting down
Central America Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Social Conflict Inter-religious relations
[cinema-pedregal--Film-image]
Cinema Pedregal 1994 27'
    Directed by Ricardo Leizaola .
For forty years Alejandro Farfán has been making and showing films in El Pedregal. Now located in the heart of Caracas, this community was a small village when Alejandro first went to the cinema.
Central America Popular Culture Urban Film / Photography / Mass media Memory
[copperworking-in-santa-clara-del-cobra-michoacan-mexico-artisans-facing-change--Film-image]
Copperworking in Santa Clara del Cobra, Michoacán, Mexico - Artisans Facing Change 2001 52'
    Directed by Beate Engelbrecht .
Santa Clara del Cobre, a village in Mexico's province Michoacán, is well-known for its copperwork, a craft originating from pre-Spanish times. In the late 1940s the people of Santa Clara tried to
Central America Material Culture Labour Art / Artists / Artisans
[democracia-indigena--Film-image]
Democracía Indígena 2000 39'
    Directed by Bruce Pacho Lane .
This film examines the indigenous rights revolution sweeping Mexico through the municipal elections in Huehuetla, Puebla. In 1989, the Huehuetla Totonacs formed the Organización Independiente
Central America Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Political Activists
[kutaay--Film-image]
Kutääy 2014 20'
    Directed by Isis Contreras .
Fili, a 22-year-old Mixe, makes ornamental paper hot air balloons. Since this is an important tradition in his community, Fili —an expert in the art— is recognized and accepted. Yet, he is
Central America Material Culture Social Change Intergenerational relations
[los-guardianes-del-mayab--Film-image]
Los Guardianes del Mayab 2012 34'
    Directed by Jaime Magaña .
Luis Puc is a Yucatecan Mayan jmen (shaman). He dies and travels to the dimension of the seven heavens where he meets the báalam (guardians). Through them, he receives healing powers and wisdom,
Central America Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Shamans and Shamanism
[mangrove-music--Film-image]
Mangrove Music 2006 49'
    Directed by Carlo A. Cubero .
The Caribbean island of Culebra is located between Spanish speaking Puerto Rico and English speaking Virgin Islands. Musicians from the island are inspired from a variety of regional, national and
Central America Music / Ethnomusicology
[out-of-focus--Film-image]
Out of Focus 2013 37'
  Directed by Adrian Arcé Antonio Zirión .
This is a collaborative documentary about arts, culture and everyday life inside a prison for minors. It was shot during a photography and video workshop with young inmates at the Juvenile Community
Central America Children / Young people Prison Art / Artists / Artisans Reflexivity
[persistence--Film-image]
Persistence 2019 54'
    Main Competition Directed by Anne Huffschmid Jan-Holger Hennies .
Human bodies don’t simply disappear. They were kidnapped, buried, broken into pieces. But they are also searched for, recovered and if forensic experts achieve the unlikely, reconstructed as
Central America Forensic Memory
[rubel-kurus--Film-image]
Rub’el Kurus 1997 45'
    Directed by Carlos Flores .
During the 1980s the Guatemalan army launched ruthless counter-insurgency campaigns against indigenous communities, killing or displacing thousands. This film documents the struggle of a group of
Central America Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples War / Conflict / Reconciliation
[scenes-of-resistance--Film-image]
Scenes of Resistance 2000 30'
  Directed by Alejandra Navarro Smith .
A series of portraits of life in a Zapatista indigenous community in Chiapas, Southern Mexico. This film invites us into the people's everyday lives, and presents their own views of the fight against
Central America Resistance Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
[a-sheepherders-homecoming--Film-image]
A Sheepherder's Homecoming 1996 40'
  Directed by Allen Moore Louis Werner .
This film documents a migrant worker’s experiences as a herder on a Nevada sheep ranch who then returns to his family in Mexico after a long absence to renew ties and find a job at home. It
North America Central America Migration Labour
[totegrandfather--Film-image]
TOTE_Grandfather 2019 80'
    Main Competition Directed by María Sojob .
This film portrays an unexpected encounter between an old Tzotzil man, who is going blind, and his granddaughter, who does not remember her childhood well. The granddaughter, having grown up in the
Central America Indigenous Filmmaking Gender Role and Identity Family / Kinship Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Elderly people Love Intergenerational relations Linguistics / Language Memory
[tiempo-de-vals--Film-image]
Tiempo de Vals 2006 22'
  Directed by Rebecca Savage .
The ‘Quinceañera’ celebration is a lived illusion. A daydream shared by the whole community of Tetlanohcan, a rapidly urbanising agricultural town in Tlaxcala, Central Mexico. The dream is
Central America Festivals / Carnival Social Change
[vendemos-recuerdos--Film-image]
Vendemos Recuerdos 2009 25'
  Directed by Carolina Corral Paredes .
Carlos is an enthusiastic tour guide and Doña Rosa is an indigenous old woman that sells crafts in the market. Both of their life’s works are an effort to provide what inquisitive tourists might
Central America Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage Trade