Maria, a 17 year old Mayan woman, lives on the slopes of an active volcano in Guatemala. An arranged marriage awaits her. Although Maria dreams of seeing ‘the city’, her status as an indigenous woman does not allow her to go out into that ‘modern world’. Later, during a pregnancy complication, this modern world will save her life, but at what price.
JAYRO BUSTAMANTE | GUATEMALA, FRANCE | 2015 | 91′ | SPANISH, MAYA WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
‘Hypnotically beautiful’ – thus leading American film magazine Variety described Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante’s debut feature. And the film did not go unnoticed: at the Berlin film festival, Ixcanul was awarded the prestigious Alfred Bauer Prize, and the Mexican Guadalajara film festival granted both film and director the highest awards.
At the foot of the vast Ixcanul volcano lives 17-year-old Maria, member of a Mayan community of coffee harvesters. She is about to be married off to Ignacio, the plantation foreman. Maria though secretly desires coffee cutter Pepe who shares her dream of starting a new life elsewhere. For her, elsewhere is the city, for him it is the United States of America, which is, after all, sitting just “on the other side of the volcano”. For Mayans it is however very difficult to access the modern world. When Maria gets pregnant and turns out to have complications, she has to travel to the city for medical care.
Bustamante grew up in this region himself and wanted to give a voice to a people who are marginalized in Guatemalan society in every regard. He achieves this with non-professional actors, all belonging to a Mayan community, and with a visually overwhelming style.
Wikipedia | To read the full article, click here >>
The Maya people are a group of peoples of Mesoamerica, who are united by speaking the Mayan languages. They inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. The overarching term “Maya” is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region that share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term embraces many distinct populations, societies, and ethnic groups that each have their own particular traditions, cultures, and historical identity.
The pre-Columbian Maya population was approximately eight million. There are an estimated seven million Maya living in this area at the start of the 21st century. Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras have managed to maintain numerous remnants of their ancient cultural heritage. Some are quite integrated into the majority hispanicized Mestizo cultures of the nations in which they reside, while others continue a more traditional, culturally distinct, life often speaking one of the Maya languages as a primary language.
The largest populations of contemporary Maya inhabit Guatemala, Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador, as well as large segments of population within the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Chiapas. […]
Guatemala
In Guatemala, the Spanish colonial pattern of keeping the native population legally separate and subservient continued well into the 20th century. This resulted in many traditional customs being retained, as the only other option than traditional Maya life open to most Maya was entering the Hispanic culture at the very bottom rung. Because of this many Guatemalan Mayans, especially women, continue to wear traditional clothing, that varies according to their specific local identity. […]
Maya cultural heritage tourism
There is an undeniable symbiotic relationship between cultural heritage, tourism, and a national identity (Palmer 1999). In the case of the Maya, the many national identities have been constructed because of the growing demands placed on them by cultural tourism. By focusing on lifeways through costumes, rituals, diet, handicrafts, language, housing, or other features, the identity of the economy shifts from the sale of labor to that of the sale of culture. […]
