Guatemala: Heart of the Mayan World

Told almost entirely without spoken words, this film unfolds in the language of its subjects: Guatemalan Sign Language. In a country where more than 850,000 Deaf people receive little institutional support, silence becomes both a barrier and a form of connection. Through classrooms, homes, and everyday life, the film observes a community building its own means of understanding and belonging. Among those leading the way are Melkin, Dairy, and Jonathan, the teachers, students, and leaders within Guatemalan Deaf Ministries, where the language of hands has become the language of hope.

Widows is a documentary about the wives of pilots, who have been killed while working on the streets of Guatemala City. Being a van or taxi driver in the Central American country is considered one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Documentary Eclectic Sounds of Guatemala, is a medium-length film about the electronic music scene in the Central American country, in which it emerged in the 1990s with the “Common Graves” parties. Later, over the years, record labels and groups of DJs emerged, such as: Cube Culture, Danzón Pérez, Intu Deep, Disco Rebels, among others. Participating in the documentary: Rod V, Carl nunes, Básico 3, Casta, Mickey Franco, Bruxxas, Mncve, Edu Pretz, Junior Rivera, Dubby Dub, Mario Palomo, Mariano Santolino, Gonzo.

The Tipo Tranquilo parties arose from the initiative of three friends (Gabriel, Erick and Alejandro), who were looking for something different in the Guatemalan electronic scene. He realized several factors that affected deejays and true music lovers, for that reason they started this movement of having various parties in different places. Inviting friends in a hidden way, without much publicity, they can only be reached through a map.

Jorge Luís Altuve is a young Guatemalan, passionate about mountaineering and a lover of his country. After the COVID-19 crisis and the lack of transparency in the execution of funds by the government of Alejandro Giammattei, he raised a wave of indignation that led thousands of Guatemalans to demonstrate. Jorge Luis attended the central square, when PNC agents began to intimidate the peaceful demonstrators. He and other citizens were arrested without having carried out an act of vandalism.

Denese Joy Becker, a manicurist living in Iowa, discovers she is indeed Dominga Sic Ruiz, a survivor from a 1982 Guatemalan massacre, when more than 200 people were killed in the small village of Rio Negro, after opposing the construction of a dam, sponsored by World Bank. She then tries to unveil the truth.

The Perechú family is afraid that the ancestral costume of their ancestors will disappear, but they see soccer as an opportunity to keep their culture and legacy alive.

Enduring 28 days of relentless construction labor, Frank struggles to prep a house for painting amidst Phoenix's scorching pandemic summer.

MAXIMÓN - Devil or Saint is a documentary about the controversial Maya deity, also known as San Simon or the drinking and smoking saint of Guatemala. He is a mixture of ancient Maya beliefs and Christianity. The movie concentrates on the people who surround Maximón with their strong personalities, opinions and faith. The documentary gives us a rare view into the rituals and fiestas honoring Maximón. The cult of Maximón is flourishing because he performs miracles. He is also feared and despised because he is used to cast curses that can result in death. Ultimately, Maximón transcends the duality of good and evil, reflecting the Maya cosmovision in which everything in the universe co-exists.

Focuses on 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu, as she discusses the lack of human rights for the indigenous people of Guatemala and her commitment to the struggle for a more egalitarian society.

Through dances and games, migrant boys and girls who live in a shelter in Reynosa, on the US-Mexico border, shared their dreams and stories of hope with us.

Headline Today: Guatemala is a war documentary. Two American journalists: Allan Nairn and Jean-Marie Simon explore the internal armed conflict in Guatemala in 1982. After General Efraín Ríos Montt comes to power the few news about Guatemala that appear in the United States' media are apparently positive. The major American media advertises the image of Ríos Montt as a “born again Christian” with a mission to pacify Guatemala. Nothing is further from reality. The Reagan Republican administration hides from Americans the war aid that his administration continues to provide to the Guatemalan army, despite the explicit congressional ban. The international media remains silent about the dimensions of the war in Guatemala while Ríos Montt, with the approval of the local oligarchy, leads for 18 months the largest number of atrocities and human rights violations against the civilian population.

Every day dozens of decommissioned school buses leave the United States on a southward migration that carries them to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the brightly-colored camionetas that bring the vast majority of Guatemalans to work each day. Since 2006, nearly 1,000 camioneta drivers and fare-collectors have been murdered for either refusing or being unable to pay the extortion money demanded by local Guatemalan gangs. LA CAMIONETA follows one such bus on its transformative journey: a journey between North and South, between life and death, and through an unfolding collection of moments, people, and places that serve to quietly remind us of the interconnected worlds in which we live.

For consumers, bananas are a delicious and nutritious start to the day, a healthy snack and a fixture in our fruit bowls. For millions of residents in the banana lands, the production of bananas means social upheaval, violence and pesticide poisoning. Banana Land explores the origins of these disparate realities, and opens the conversation on how workers, producers and consumers can address this disconnect.

A dutch film maker, married to a Nicaraguan, sets himself a goal of finding out what kind of people is risking life trying to emigrate over the borders to USA, and if some of the reach the American dream.

Tekuanes - Guardianes del Agua

Since 1999, more than 2,000 women have been murdered in Guatemala, with numbers escalating every year, yet lawmakers and government officials turn a blind eye. Powerful and uncompromising, Killer's Paradise uncovers an emotionally wrenching human rights tragedy, while exposing an inept judicial system that allows it to happen. After almost four decades of civil war, Guatemala is a troubled society, but it can also be seen as a microcosm of the pervasive violence and injustice against women worldwide.

In this Traveltalk series short, we visit a region in Guatemala where the native Indian tribes live like their ancestors, without using most of the benefits of modern man. They not only grow their own vegetables and catch animals to eat, they also cultivate the plants they need to weave fabrics and make natural dyes from various berries and seeds.

One of the great mysteries of history is how the ancient Maya built such an incredible society in a tropical rainforest over two thousand years - and then vanished. How? Why? New discoveries and new science can now tell the story.

Si j'étais sage-femme