Cultural events

Autor/es: Alberto Cortés

Heart of time

film screening

In an indigenous Zapatista community in the Mexican state of Chiapas, a young girl is engaged to be married. Out walking in the jungle, Sonia (Rocío Barrios) exchanges a sultry glance with guitar-playing Zapatista rebel Julio (Francisco Jiménez). Such a relationship represents a security threat to both the community and the rebels and is thus forbidden. Meanwhile, the men struggle to bring electricity to this isolated jungle region as the women fight against the encroachment of government forces.   Shot on location with a cast of non-professionals, this politically loaded oddity from director Alberto Cortés opens up questions on the relationship between the political and the personal, the difficulty of social change and the inevitable tyranny of political systems. Although none of these questions is answered, Cortés’ commitment to bringing the hidden lives of these people to light is to be commended. Images of poverty and struggle suggest these are people who cannot escape history, but the film ends on a defiantly celebratory note.