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Juan Carlos Rulfo's IN THE PIT Celebrated 20 Years at the 24th FICM

Alan Rodríguez

The documentary In the Pit (2006), by Mexican filmmaker Juan Carlos Rulfo, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the 24th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) with a screening attended by the director, film producer and programmer Christine Dávila.

Juan Carlos Rulfo

The film follows several workers during the construction of the Second Level of Mexico City’s Periférico. As they work, they share their dreams, loves, and fears. The bridge is merely a backdrop. What really matters happens below: work, humor, friendship, desire, and those little moments that make up life.

Before the screening began, Christine Dávila recalled when, in 2006, she presented the documentary at the Los Angeles Latin International Film Festival (LALIFF), where she had to step up to the microphone and introduce Rulfo’s film after the festival director was delayed.

“It opened a window to Mexico City that I hadn’t yet discovered as an adult. I loved the humor and hearing the way the workers expressed themselves. It was like a legacy I didn’t know I needed so much. I think the film shaped me as a programmer and made me fall in love with Mexican documentary film,” Dávila added.

Rulfo was moved to see a full house twenty years after the documentary’s premiere and thanked the audience and the festival for the warm reception. In the Pit won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and received the Audience Award for Best Mexican Feature Film at the fourth edition of FICM.