Todos Santos Cuchumatan: Report from a Guatemalan Village

A Film by Olivia Carrescia

This film is on one (1) DVD together with the films Todos Santos: The Survivors and Mayan Voices: American Lives

This film provides an intimate look at everyday life in Todos Santos, a village in Guatemala's highlands, before the violence of the 1980s. The community, consisting of small family farms worked by Mayan indians, had remained isolated until the construction of a road in the mid-1960's connecting the highlands and the coast.

As Todosanteros go about their daily routines, they discuss the increasing importance of cash to this once self-sustained farming community. The annual harvest is reaped, the elaborate Fiesta of Todos Santos is celebrated with dancing, drinking and the central event that is the horse race, and the workers migrate out of the mountain village in search of work on the lowland cotton plantations.

An insightful documentary, TODOS SANTOS CUCHUMATAN ominously illustrates social and economic changes in the lives of Guatemalan Indians that would lead to the political upheaval of the 1980s.

"Latin American studies would be considerably strengthened by films of this caliber. Highly recommended for college libraries."—Choice

"A must for viewing by anyone interested in Latin America and the situation of indigenous and rural populations."—American Anthropologist

Blue Ribbon Winner, 1983 American Film Festival

41 minutes / color
Copyright Date: 1982
Sale: $398

In theaters now!

Subject areas:
Anthropology, Central America, Cultural Anthropology, Economic Sociology, Guatemala, Indigenous Peoples, Latin American Studies, Multi-Cultural Studies, Native People, Sociology

Related Links:
The Films of Olivia Carrescia

Related Titles:
A Mayan Trilogy: Life, Death & Migration: Now on one DVD, Olivia Carrescia's three films on the Mayan Indians of Guatemala preserve a record, and provide an acute observation on how the indigenous culture has been affected by, yet survived, that country's tumultuous history.

Todos Santos: The Survivors: Demonstrates how the political turmoil of the 1980s affected this once quiet Guatemalan village.

Mayan Voices: American Lives: Contrasts the experiences of Mayan families who came to Indiantown, Florida as refugees fleeing the violence in Guatemala in the early 1980s, with the struggles of those continuing to arrive in search of better lives.

Sacred Soil: The Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation exhumes up to 1,000 bodies a year to identify them, and return the remains to their families.