Directed by Xavi Sala • Drama • With Sótera Cruz, Érika López, Majo Alfaroh • 2019 • 119 minutes
In a star-making performance, Sótera Cruz brings razor-sharp intensity to her portrayal of Guie’dani, a Zapotec girl determined to fight for her dignity.
Guie’dani is dragged to Mexico City by her mother to help in her work as a housekeeper for an upper-middle-class family. There, the subtle psychological subjugation inflicted by the white family functions as a metaphor for the oppression of the old world by the new. Yet, Guie’dani rejects the life of servitude and seeks her own identity through a friendship with another rebellious teen.
A striking contrast to Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, Guie’dani’s Navel is a unique coming-of-age narrative exploring the racism inflicted on indigenous people in Mexico and the empowerment of a new generation that refuses to accept it silently.
"Sincere performances and thoughtfully written characters having profound interactions with one another. Suitable for audiences of a wide age range, it has immense potential for fostering discussions about discrimination (including same-race discrimination), casual and overt racism, classism, identity, cultural differences, wealth disparity, privilege, and more. It is highly recommended." — Dorian Bowen, Archivist/Film Historian, EMRO
Up Next in NEW: Top Films of 2024
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The Providers
Directed by Anna Moot-Levin, Laura Green • Documentary • 2019 • 82 minutes
Set against the backdrop of the physician shortage and opioid epidemic in rural America, THE PROVIDERS follows three healthcare providers in northern New Mexico. They work at El Centro, a group of safety-net clinics that ...
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Le combat dans l'île (Alain Cavalier,...
Directed by Alain Cavalier • Drama • With Romy Schneider, Jean-Louis Trintignant • 1962 • 105 minutes
A hidden gem of 1960s New French Cinema, Alain Cavalier’s Le Combat dans l’île is as coolly modern as it is tensely gripping. Filled with thrilling plot twists, jazzy gun battles and stormy betr...
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A Grin Without a Cat (Chris Marker)
Directed by Chris Marker • Documentary • 1977 • 178 minutes
Newly restored! A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT is Chris Marker's epic film-essay on the worldwide political wars of the 60's and 70's: Vietnam, Bolivia, May '68, Prague, Chile, and the fate of the New Left.
Released in France in 1978, restored a...
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