"DREAM OF SAN JUAN" - PREMIERE AT THE FESTIVAL IN KRAKOW

Another Polish documentary will have its world premiere at the Krakow Film Festival tomorrow. "Dream of San Juan" competes with other films within the frames of the Polish Competition.

 A tiny village, somewhere in the Mexican Sierra Madre, at the first glance the end of the world, a small community of ancient Mixteco culture and the inevitably approaching cataclysm - this is how you can shortly describe the brand new film by Joaquin del Paso and Jan Paweł Trzaska which has its world premiere at the Krakow Film Festival. However, the way in which their story was filmed captivates the viewer, and the subject itself is touching.

 

The inhabitants of San Juan Ixtaltepec become a part of the process which is inevitable today, in which their indigenous culture is pushed to the background; the traditional tortillas are replaced by the increasingly popular crisps, television becomes the centre of family life, and schoolchildren swear allegiance to the flag of Mexico. Partly, they live just like their ancestors lived, but, converting to Christianity, they have forgotten about their legendary descent from the gods. In the film we see only the outline of this phenomenon, because this small community struggles with a problem that is much more serious. The rainy season approaches and as a result of the rainfall, landslides may come which would wash the village away from the surface of Earth with mudslides.

 

An interesting protagonist of the film is the village administrator, who ceaselessly tries to contact the authorities, so that they could officially confirm the danger and help the inhabitants to minimise the results of the catastrophe. However, the help does not come. The nightmare of the main protagonist, in which he sees a menacing black cloud, can, unfortunately, soon come true.

 

We see the attempt at the struggle with the system, which should protect this small community, living on the mountainsides, working on the cultivation of corn and beans - up to the last scenes of the film this struggle is unsuccessful.

 

The film-makers show us this disastrous situation by depicting the life of one of the families, allow us to see their difficult everyday life and become a guest in their home for a moment.

 

We get close to them and together with them we await the inevitable catastrophe.

 

 

 

Agnieszka Południak