The Modern Jungle

2016 | Color | 72:15

The Modern Jungle is a portrait of globalization filtered through the fever dream of a Zoque shaman, don Juan, who falls under the spell of a pyramid-scheme-marketed nutritional supplement. Nearby, Carmen lives peacefully off the land her martyred husband paid for with his life. The Modern Jungle documents their encounters with modernity – including capitalism, commodity fetish, and cinema itself.

Direction: Fairbanks; Charles, Kak; Saul
Script: Fairbanks; Charles, Kak; Saul
Production: Fairbanks; Charles, Kak; Saul
Photography: Fairbanks; Charles
Sound: Kak; Saul
Music: Rodríguez Estrada; Lorenzo, Lavender (Hugo Paris)
Cast:Juárez Rodríguez; Juan, Echevarría López; Carmen
Participation year at FICM: 2016

Director Movies

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With an emphasis on local sounds, starring advertisements blared from shops and trucks, this documentary is a sensory ethnography of communication in a region founded by refugees from the eruption of the Chichonal volcano. An exploration of indigenous cultural richness and a condemnation of the pressures they face in trying to maintain their lands and their rights.