Juchari Juata (Our forest), by the Eratsicua Collective, was presented at the 15th FICM

Gustavo R. Gallardo

The documentary Juchari Juata (Our Forest), by the Collective Eratsicua, was presented at the 15th International Film Festival of Morelia (FICM).

The 29-minute film discusses the struggle to balance logging and tree conservation in the community of San Francisco Pichátaro in Michoacán, resulting in confrontations between loggers and villagers and an explanation of where the problem really comes from.

The screening had three of the members of the Collective Eratsicua present, who talked about what it was like filming without resources, without knowledge of cinema and during a shooting.

Karla Maleni González Hernández, Magdalena Estrada Bacilio, Luis Manuel Pérez García.

Karla Maleni González detailed that it was a school project commissioned by the community of Pichátaro to talk about the deforestation in the area.

"When we started, we realized that it was not so much the people from outside that logged, but from the inside, for economic reasons. We did not know anything about filming, the professor lent us a camera, they asked us for a documentary and we thought we should direct people because all cinema is fiction. We told a cop 'lay down there and pretend to see how they cut' and he said, 'that's later.' Then the police left us there and we heard shots, we kept filming and began to make a real video."

For his part, Luis Manuel Pérez spoke about giving voice to his community through cinema: "It is important that we give voice to our people, so people won't come from other places to say what we have to say. Hopefully, the next generations at the school will have more support. "

Juchari Juata (Our Forest) will also be screened on Monday, October 23 at the Casa Natal at 18:00 and on Tuesday, October 24 in the UMSNH classroom at 16:00.