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Development Film Lab for Indigenous Filmmakers of Latin America 2023

For more than 15 years, the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) has aimed to engage with the stories presented by Indigenous filmmakers from various backgrounds and in different circumstances. This is done through the Indigenous Peoples Forum, specifically created for this purpose. The Forum consistently supports filmmakers by showcasing their films and efforts in the film industry and providing group training opportunities that help enhance the development of their films.

The Development Film Lab for Indigenous Filmmakers of Latin America 2023 seeks to contribute to the professionalization and training of filmmakers from different nations and indigenous communities in the region. It provides a platform for sharing ideas and resources to enhance the quality of the presented projects and proposals.

We believe that collective work enriches film, building ties and bridges of collaboration between filmmakers from different cultural contexts and experiences.

SELECTION

Joshi Espinosa Anguaya

Joshi Espinosa Anguaya

Akcha Sapi

Documentary Feature Film
Dir: Joshi Espinosa Anguaya
Ethnicity: Kichwa Otavalo
Country: Ecuador

About Joshi Espinosa Anguaya

He is a Kichwa Otavalo director. He studied at INCINE (Escuela de Cine y Actuación) in Quito. He was a professor at the same institution and created the scholarship program for peoples and nationalities of Ecuador who wanted to study film at the school. He has participated in several Ecuadorian film projects as an actor, director, and photography assistant. As a director, his short film Ayllu (2010) and his debut feature Huahua (2018) stand out, both of which have been selected for several international festivals. He is the producer of the feature film Vacaciones, from the Humazapas project, which is in the post-production stage. He is currently working on his new documentary Akcha Sapi.

Blanca Martínez Castillo

Blanca Martínez Castillo

El arte de limpiar

Documentary Feature Film
Dir: Blanca Martínez Castillo
Ethnicity: Yuku Noo / Mixteca
Country: Mexico

About Blanca Martínez Castillo

She is a communication specialist and audiovisual producer from the Yuku Noo'oo people of San Lorenzo Cacaotepec Etla, Oaxaca. She has a degree in Graphic Communication from the Universidad José Vasconcelos. As a designer, her collaboration with the Ambulante Tour (2011), Mic Género (2017) and the poster for the documentary Mi no lugar, (Isis Ahumada), stand out. In the audiovisual area, she was production manager in Sin señas particulares (Fernanda Valadez, 2018) and in Capital cultural 2020 - 2021. She was production assistant in the recent feature film Valentina o la serenidad, by Ángeles Cruz. Currently, she works as a graphic designer at Taller Recreación Gráfica, and she is developing the documentary short film La gráfica fugitiva, an ECAMC 2022 beneficiary project.

Xun Sero

Xun Sero

De aspecto indígena

Documentary Feature Film
Dir: Xun Sero
Ethnicity: Maya Tsotsil
Country: Mexico

About Xun Sero

He is a director, editor, and photographer of Mayan Tsotsil origin. He received his film training at Ambulante Más Allá and the Documentary Film School of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. His beginnings in documentary filmmaking were in recounting events of the struggle of the native peoples of Chiapas. In his time as a cinematographer, his work stands out in Negra by Medhin Tewolde, and Kuxlejal/Vida by Elke Franke. His debut feature Mamá (2022) has been well received by both the public and critics. He received the Silver Goddess for Best Documentary and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at Cinélatino Rencontres de Toulouse, among others.

Viviana Mamani Cori

Viviana Mamani Cori

Estoy buscando a mi familia

Documentary Feature Film
Dirección: Viviana Mamani Cori
Etnia: aymara
País: Bolivia

About Viviana Mamani Cori

She is a Bolivian migrant filmmaker, of Aymara origin. She studied filmmaking at the Andean School of Cinematography under Jorge Sanjinés. Her work has focused on the interdisciplinary nature of the arts, which blend experimental, performance, and live arts. She has participated in the production of feature films, short films, both fiction, and documentary, which highlights: Los viejos soldados by Jorge Sanjinés. She is currently in the development of his debut feature Buscando a mi familia, a project that has participated in various laboratories such as Bolivia Lab 2020, ACAMPADOC 2021 (Panama), Conecta 2021 and Mapulab 2022 (Chile).

Alberto Flores Vilca

Alberto Flores Vilca

Grietas

Documentary Feature Film
Dir: Alberto Flores Vilca
Ethnicity: Quechua
Country: Perú

About Alberto Flores Vilca

He is a Quechua social communicator specializing in film and audiovisual production from the National University of the Altiplano in Peru. He furthered his education at the International Film and TV School of San Antonio de los Baños (Cuba), the Transfrontera Experimental Film School (Chile), and the workshop “El Otro Documental” of Docu (Peru). His film Mamapara - Madre Lluvia (2020) premiered at the Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France). It was screened at major festivals in Europe and America. In 2020, his project Grietas was selected for Talents Berlinale at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Elvis Rigoberto Caj Cojoc

Elvis Rigoberto Caj Cojoc

Hiñaru Duna (Mujer Agua)

Fiction Short Film

Dir: Elvis Rigoberto Caj Cojoc
Ethnicity: Maya Poqomchi
Country: Guatemala

About Elvis Rigoberto Caj Cojoc

He is a Mayan Poqomchi director and screenwriter. He studied film in Guatemala and Mexico. He was part of the Open Doors program of the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) and Talents of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (Mexico). In 2022, he was a workshop leader for the Realización Cinematográfica para Jóvenes Indígenas de Honduras workshop, organized by the Instituto Cinematográfico of Honduras. He has been a beneficiary of funds such as the ECAMC, the #Fondo Miradas de Ambulante, and Netflix. He has been a jury member at various film festivals in the United States and Canada. His most recent short film, Liremu Barana, won international awards, which led him to be considered for an Oscar nomination in 2021.

Alfredo Guzmán Cayetano

Alfredo Guzmán Cayetano

Mub ́u o sobre poner el corazón en el lugar correcto

Fiction Feature Film
Dir: Alfredo Guzmán Cayetano
Ethnicity: Mazahua
Country: Mexico

AboutAlfredo Guzmán Cayetano

He is a native of the Mazahua community (Jñatrjo) of San Felipe del Progreso, in the State of Mexico. He is studying Hispanic Language and Literature at the Facultad de Estudios Superiores UNAM Acatlán. His film studies have been through courses, including a diploma in Cinematography at the Indie Film School. In 2022, his project Dueto Charanda was supported for its production by the ECAMC incentive and is currently in post-production. His work as a writer and screenwriter has been recognized with honorable mentions, and he has done important work teaching film workshops in Mazahua communities.

Naila Paulina Cruz López

Naila Paulina Cruz López

Mudubina

Fiction Short Film
Dir: Naila Paulina Cruz López
Ethnicity: Binnizá /Zapoteca
Country: Mexico

About Naila Paulina Cruz López

She is a photographer and audiovisual producer of Binnizá origin, from the community of Juchitán, Oaxaca. She studied Communication Sciences at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Her training in filmmaking has been through courses, among which stand out the Taller de desarrollo del guion cinematográfico by Xóchitl Enriquez Mendoza, and the Taller del guion cinematográfico by Beatriz Novaro. In 2021, with the support of Cultural Survival, she made short documentaries: Lade Za, Fuego nuevo, Nudos y Rezadora. She was a camera assistant and was responsible for the "making of" the documentary Ser muxe (2022), by Ernesto Regalado. She was an online producer of the short film Se elige (2023), directed by Patricia Matus and Alma Yoari López.

Néstor Abel Jiménez Díaz

Néstor Abel Jiménez Díaz

Nasakopajk

Documentary Feature Film
Dir: Néstor Abel Jiménez Díaz
Ethnicity: Maya Tseltal and Tsotsil
Country: Mexico

About Néstor Abel Jiménez Díaz

He is a documentary filmmaker of the Mayan Tseltal and Tsotsil peoples of Los Altos de Chiapas, Mexico. Since 2007, he produces audiovisual content to cover social processes in Mexico. His filmography as a director includes Don de ser, El Naíl, and El secreto de la belleza. These documentaries have traveled to festivals in Mexico and around the world. He is a member of the following agencies: Storyhunter, RT en español, and Agence France-Presse. He is a colorist for the production company Terra Nostra Films, where he has worked on ten films, including shorts and features, and where the following stand out: Mamá by Xun Sero, Negra by Medhin Tewolde, and Vaychiletik by Juan Javier Pérez.

Marbel Ina Vanegas Jusayu

Marbel Ina Vanegas Jusayu

Pawa

Fiction Short Film
Dir: Marbel Ina Vanegas Jusayu
Ethnicity: Wayuu
Country: Colombia

About Marbel Ina Vanegas Jusayu

She is a Wayuu audiovisual producer from the Jusayu clan. She studied at the Film Conservatory of the National Film School (ENACC) and the Wayuu Communications School. She is part of the Pütchimaajana Communicators Network and a founding member of the production company Aguacate Audiovisual. In 2022, she was general director of the fourth season of the documentary series El buen vivir and co-director of the investigative documentary Buscando las marcas del Ashojushi - Tatuado con espinas. She is the screenwriter and director of the short film Pawa, a project in the development stage selected for consultancy in BAM Riohacha 2022, and BAM Bogotá 2023.

Kujaesage Kaiabi

Kujaesage Kaiabi

Prepori Porongyta - la historia de Prepori Kaiabi

Documentary Feature Film
Dir: Kujãesage Kaiabi
Ethnicity: Kaiabi
Country: Brazil

About Kujaesage Kaiabi

She is an audiovisual producer of the Kaiabi people. She is one of the main female references for indigenous audiovisual producers in Brazil. She started in 2011 in a workshop of filmmaker Mari Correia, where she produced videos on the traditional cuisine of the Kaiabi people. Since then, she has recorded rituals and encounters of native peoples, especially those linked to women's movements. She directed the documentary Meriup (2016) and was a photographer for Yaokwa (2022), an award-winning film by Vincent Carelli. She has taught photography workshops in the Video Nas Aldeias project and is a communicator for Rede Xingu+, where she produces informative content for the local population.

Tirza Yanira Ixmucané Saloj Oroxom

Tirza Yanira Ixmucané Saloj Oroxom

Q'aq

Animated Documentary Short Film
Dir: Tirza Yanira Ixmucané Saloj Oroxom
Ethnicity: Maya K'iche' - Kaqchikel
Country: Guatemala

About Tirza Yanira Ixmucané Saloj Oroxom

She is a Maya k'iche'-kaqchikel artist, illustrator, and audiovisual producer. She is co-founder of the collective Lemow, a women's project dedicated to the exhibition and formation of community cinema. In 2020, she was selected in Talents Guadalajara as a production designer, and in 2023 she participated in the incubator for emerging filmmakers “Indigenous Imaginarium” in Los Angeles California. As an editor she has worked on the documentaries Jun Nyol, Jun Nb'is, and Hilar las venas, soon to be released. She has participated in various training programs in documentary filmmaking, screenwriting, and art direction. Currently, she is developing a series of four short films on the memory of the Maya K'ich'e-Kaqchikel people.

Damián Dositelo Martínez

Damián Dositelo Martínez

Se escucha el viento

Fiction Short Film
Dir: Damián Dositelo Martínez Vásquez
Ethnicity: Ayuujk / Mixe
Country: Mexico

About Damián Dositelo Martínez

He is an Ayuujk audiovisual producer. He studied sociology at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. During his university years, he directed a film club with which he took films to the neighborhoods of Mexico City with the largest indigenous population. His studies in documentary filmmaking have been through various workshops. In 2013, along with Estela González, he made the documentary Ayo'on Xaamkëjxp, which was screened at the festivals Contra el Silencio Todas la Voces and the Second International Indigenous Film and Video Festival. His debut feature, Susurros del Ipx'yukp, which is currently in post-production, received the Gabriel García Márquez 2017 and ECAMC 2019 incentives.

Xun Sero

Xun Pérez Pérez

Sueños que migran

Documentary Feature Film
Dir: Xun Pérez Pérez
Ethnicity: maya tsotsil
Country: México

About Xun Pérez Pérez

He is Tsotsil from the Mayan village of Zinacantán. He studied Intercultural Communication at the Intercultural University of Chiapas. His training in filmmaking was through workshops at the CCC and the Documentary Film School of San Cristóbal de las Casas. He produced and directed the documentary short film Nichimal Son - Música que florece. Vaychiletik (2021) is his debut feature, its world premiere was at the Biarritz Amérique Latine Festival (France), where it received a special mention from the jury for best documentary. He is currently developing his second feature film, Sueños que migran, and collaborates as a sound mixer and assistant editor in documentary projects with directors from the highlands of Chiapas.

Elizabeth Pirela González

Elizabeth Pirela González

El viaje mítico de Sain y el Duende Akalakui

Animated Fiction Feature Film
Dir: Elizabeth Pirela González
Ethnicity: Wayuu
Country: Colombia

About Elizabeth Pirela González

She is a Wayuu director and screenwriter of the Epieyü Clan. She holds a bachelor's degree in Literature and Integral Education and a master's degree in Scriptwriting for Film and Television from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. As a director and screenwriter, she has won awards at national and international film festivals, including the Audience Award for Best Short Film for Majayut Señorita (2010) at the South American Film Encounter in Marseille (France). She directed the series entitled Shimirra'in wayuu: Juegos tradicionales wayuu. Her latest short film, El silencio de las semillas (2021), has been selected for festivals in Chile, Peru, Spain, Germany, and Colombia.

MENTORS

Adrián Ojeda Cuevas

Adrián Ojeda Cuevas

Lawyer graduated from Escuela Libre de Derecho in 1999. He is managing partner of Ojeda | Ojeda y Asociados, a law firm founded in 1968. He is a specialist in entertainment law and as such, has advised multiple productions such as James Bond Spectre (2015), Luis Miguel La Serie (2018-2021), El Baile de los 41 (2020), El caso Cassez-Vallarta (2022) and ¡Qué viva México! (2022).

Alexis Rodil

Alexis Rodil

Cinematographer, editor, postproduction supervisor, and colorist. He has over twenty years of experience in the film and advertising industry. He has participated in several documentaries, films, and series, adding up to an extensive filmography, among which Los bañistas by Max Zunino (2013), Karnawal by Juan Pablo Felix (2021), and Amalgama by Carlos Cuarón (2022), stand out.

Ana Alice de Morais

Ana Alice de Morais

Founder of the Brazilian company 3 Moinhos. Since 2018 she has been based in Tiohtiake, Montreal, where she is the artistic co-director and programmer of the RIDM- Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal. She is responsible for the training offer of the M.E.D.I.A Coalition. It is an organization that looks after the interests of underrepresented groups in the Canadian Francophone industry.

Ángeles Cruz

Ángeles Cruz

She is a Ñuu Savi director, actress, and screenwriter from Villa Guadalupe Victoria, Oaxaca, Mexico. With a long previous career in film as an actress, she debuted in screenwriting and film directing with the short films La Tiricia o cómo curar la tristeza (2012), La carta (2013), Arcángel (2018). In 2021, her debut feature film Nudo mixteco was released, whose screenplay is also of his authorship. Valentina o la serenidad is her second feature film. It premiered in 2023 at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Carlos A. Gutiérrez

Carlos A. Gutiérrez

Carlos is the co-founding executive director of Cinema Tropical, the media arts non-profit organization, which is the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S. As a curator, he has presented several series at multiple institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, Film at Lincoln Center, and the Guggenheim Museum. Currently, he serves as the artistic director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Latin Wave film festival, and as co-director of Cinema Tucson.

Christiane Burkhard

Christiane Burkhard

She has a multifaceted career that blends film, writing, and teaching. Her filmography includes her autobiographical essay Vuela angelito (2002), La Emperatriz de México (2005), and her multi-award-winning documentary Trazando Aleida (2008). In recent years, she has ventured into expanded and transmedia film projects, such as Taanuxiimbal, en camino (2015), and Reconstrucciones de Ambulante A.C. (2019). She is a researcher and collaborator in multiple national and Latin American spaces of audiovisual training, with a focus on gender, community, and experimental pedagogies.

Martha Orozco

Martha Orozco

Founder of MartFilms, a production company focused on social issues that highlight diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her productions include Allende, mi abuelo Allende (2015), winner of Cannes in 2015, La Hija de todas las rabias (2022) and Cae al sol (2022). Since 2005, she is a teacher specializing in pitching and development of film projects. She directed the class on production at EICTV (Cuba) and has coordinated the documentary area at the CCC (Mexico). She is co-author of Manual Básico de Producción Cinematográfica (2014).

Roberto Olivares

Roberto Olivares

Filmmaker. Founding member of Ojo de Agua Comunicación, an organization dedicated to strengthening community communication processes. He has committed over twenty years to the training of young communicators in Mexico and Latin America, especially in indigenous communities in the state of Oaxaca, through filmmaking workshops at Ojo de Agua, Ambulante Más Allá, and the Itinerant Audiovisual Camp. As a director, he has worked on television, video, and documentary films. He has received recognition at various national and international festivals, including the Best Documentary Award at FICM (Morelia), Special Award at DOCS DF (CDMX), and Grand Prix at Présence Autochtone (Canada).

Sofia Arroyo

Sofia Arroyo

Film promoter, activist, and social justice philanthropy practitioner, specially dedicated to driving systemic change concerning Indigenous rights and new narratives. She is a former executive director of EDGE Funders Alliance (USA). Currently, she is an independent consultant and board member of the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples, Kindle Project, and JASS (Just Associates).

Nicolas Philibert

Nicolas Philibert

French filmmaker. He worked as an assistant director, collaborating with René Allio and Alain Tanner, among others. In 1978, he co-directed with Gérard Mordillat his first feature-length documentary, La Voix de son maître (His Master's Voice). His widely recognized and award-winning filmography includes Louvre City (La Ville Louvre, 1990), In the Land of the Deaf (Le Pays des sourds, 1992), Every Little Thing (La Moindre des choses, 1996), Back to Normandy (Retour en Normandie, 2007), Nénette (2010), Each and Every Moment (De chaque instant, 2018) and Sur l'Adamant (2023), among others.