Part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s mission is to foster greater understanding through world cinema. This year 72 Foreign Language films were submitted for Golden Globes consideration. Here is an overview of one of them.

Mayan culture and the life of a native community are at the heart of the debut feature by Guatemalan-born Jayro Bustamante, which was first screened in competition at the 65^th Berlin International Film Festival.

It is just one of those tiny little films that are cinematically riveting, when a rough cut of the film was screened at San Sebastian’s film festival it was immediately picked up by Film Factory for distribution and is now, for the very first time, Guatemala’s entry for the Oscars.

Jayro Bustamante is a first-time director who has an eye for beauty and a way of transporting the viewer into a time and culture little known to the outside world. The film is a simple story of a young woman who is discovering her sexuality and her desire to leave behind her current existence and escape to a better land (The U.S.).

17 year-old Maria is a Mayan woman who lives and works with her parents on a plantation on the slopes of an active volcano in Guatemala. Although Maria dreams of seeing the urban side of civilization she appears destined to an arranged marriage with an older man. Her status as an indigenous woman does not allow her to go out into that modern world, but she wants to run away with Pepe, a young man she likes and who gets her pregnant. During the pregnancy, Maria is bitten by a snake and destiny takes her to that modern world that will save her life, but at a costly price.

The scenery immerses the viewer in a coffee plantation in the mountains, with a majestic volcano on the horizon, where indigenous seasonal workers every day accomplish their tasks while living in modesty with their ancient and amazing culture. Ixcanul is shot so that audiences feel the atmosphere while getting to know through characters and story, what it means for modern-day Mayans to live their culture in a modern world.

The cast consists of mainly unknowns. Bustamante told Noel Souza that he had put out a casting call by putting up a poster in the market place and he got no response, but when he changed the posting to a job offer a lot of people showed up. It was then that he discovered the lead actress. The only professional actress is the woman who plays her mother – she is a theater actress. If nothing else happens with this film, Bustamante has certainly put Guatemala on the cinematic map.

Mario Amaya & Noel Souza