Last update I promised good news on the festival front and this is it: Gods and Kings has been selected to screen at the 13th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film in Edinburgh, Scotland. Organized by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in partnership with USC’s Center for Visual Anthropology, [...]]]> Compañer@s,

Last update I promised good news on the festival front and this is it: Gods and Kings has been selected to screen at the 13th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Organized by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in partnership with USC’s Center for Visual Anthropology, this festival is an exciting place to officially premiere the film before english-speaking audiences of the kind most inclined to appreciate it.  And we are honored!  The screening is scheduled for Saturday June 15th, and we are up for the “Intangible Culture Prize.” You can check out the film profile here.

Don’t forget to follow Jubilee Films on twitter to keep abreast of news, especially pertaining to my current project The Hand That Feeds, co-directed with Rachel Lears, which we’re presenting before a panel of national NGOS, broadcasters and funders at the Good Pitch NY next Tuesday. I couldn’t make this film without the experience of Gods and Kings, and I couldn’t have made Gods and Kings without all of you.

All the best,

Robin

I hope you all had a great holiday. We’re not big fans of pilgrims or puritans, but we love feasts, and we hope you gave thanks to the indigenous inhabitants of the americas for domesticating and cultivating the turkeys, squashes, corn and potatoes we all depend on (to say nothing [...]]]> Dear Gods and Kings community,

I hope you all had a great holiday. We’re not big fans of pilgrims or puritans, but we love feasts, and we hope you gave thanks to the indigenous inhabitants of the americas for domesticating and cultivating the turkeys, squashes, corn and potatoes we all depend on (to say nothing of chocolate and tobacco).

It was November 2007 when I wandered into my first Disfraz performance in Momostenango. Five long years later, we’re at last screening a finished cut before audiences. In late September, Miradasdoc featured us front and center in their online press release. We weren’t present to report on how the premier was there, but we suspect it went smashingly.

At Morelia, arguably the coolest film festival in Mexico, local cinephiles attended our screening in large numbers and were very enthusiastic. The audience especially seemed to appreciate the bizarre Dance of the Mexicans and other Mexican influences on the fantasy world of Guatemala. We owe our gratitude to filmmaker Jesse Lerner for programming us, and to Christine Davila for presenting the film. Rachel Lears and I drank tequila with movie stars, ate the finest Michoacán enchiladas, made new friends, and saw some amazing new films (look out for La Noria, El Alcalde and La Casa Emak Bakia).

Two days later we were attending pitching meetings at Latin Side of the Doc in the capital, where we have entered into conversations about this project and our latest one, Cafe Wars, with public TV stations across Europe and the Americas. We made friends there too—special shouts out to Firmes and Dario en Toma!

We weren’t back in hurricane-ravaged Brooklyn for more than a day before we were driving to Philadelphia for our special early screening at the Penn Museum, the source of much of our archival footage. The screening accompanied the museum’s Maya 2012: Lords of Time exhibit, which helps bust many modern myths about the Maya, including the myth that the Maya no longer exist! Thanks to Katherine Pourshariati for organizing the screening and leading the conversation, and anthropologist Maury Hutcheson for helping make that conversation so interesting.

Two days later we were in Waco Texas, for another special early screening at Baylor University organized by Gods and Kings collaborator, anthropologist Garrett Cook. The visit was more fun than we could have possibly predicted, and we’re making plans to market our DVD with a new book Garrett is releasing with his colleague Tom Offit (another kindred spirit) that offers a deeper look at some of the movie’s themes: Indigenous Religion and Cultural Performance in the New Maya World

We should probably mention that the Penn and Baylor screenings are special arrangements with film collaborators. We intend to screen in more festivals and finalize television and distribution deals before we pursue more university and museum screenings.  Look out for new festival appearances to be announced (maybe even in a theatre near you) and for the printed DVDs and other rewards before the end of the year.

Thanks for your continuing support!

All the best,

Robin

Friday, Nov 16, 2012: Gods & Kings public screening (How [...]]]> In a few minutes we’ll board a plane to Waco, Texas for a special screening of Gods and Kings at Baylor University with Garrett Cook, a great anthropologist and respected consultant to the film. Here’s the information if you happen to be near the campus:

Friday, Nov 16, 2012: Gods & Kings public screening (How highland Maya respond to and interpret global culture within an annual religious festival and its dances.)
Baylor Science Building (BSB) D109
2:30-4:00 PM