I’m going to the airport wearing an expensive black dress with a diamond necklace and glasses of champagne in both hands, waltzing through, casually reminding my chauffeur to haul my bags in for me. I need 4-5 attractive people (race+gender doesn’t matter) wearing clothes that are not better than mine, and cool sunglasses begging me not to leave, on their knees, barely grasping my dress because they want me to stay but at the same time they know the dress is worth more than anything they can ever afford. Turning around every so slightly and almost spilling, but not quite all the way there, my champagne, I’ll laugh and say quite loudly, “darlings I have to visit my ACTUAL husband!”
You’ve almost certainly never seen a film made by Guatemalans. But then, neither have most Guatemalans. Turns out we’re all watching the same stuff. “People here are obsessed with American blockbusters,” says Jayro Bustamante, writer-director of Guatemala’s most award-winning film. “All of the TV is American, all of the fashion is American, the cities are constructed like in the U.S. People think that Miami is the capital of our country!”
Bustamante’s film “Ixcanul” (which translates roughly to “volcano” in the Mayan dialect of Kaqchikel) presents something different. It is the story of two strong indigenous Mayan women, mother and daughter. Currently enjoying a 100 percent critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it arrived in U.S. theaters this month.
