SUNÚ

Sunú is the indigenous word for Maize by the Tarahumara people of Northern Mexico. It is a central part of the culture, identity, economy, community, spirituality as well as cuisine in all of Mexico. However, the Mexican state has been working to support Monsanto’s efforts to bring genetically modified seeds into Mexico, and the government is helping contaminate native corn. Determined to remain free and independent, Sunú shows farmers working the land, cultivating their seeds and being true to their traditions.

THE FILMMAKER

Born and raised in México, Teresa has always first considered herself to be a puppeteer. From 1996 to 2011, she joined the Bread and Puppet Theatre in Vermont, and continues to collaborate with them to this day. After earning a BA in Visual Arts and Social Science from Bennington College, in 2004, she returned to Mexico and founded El Indígena de la Sierra Taraumara Theatre, an indigenous Mexican puppet theater company based in northern Mexico’s Sierra Madre. In 2009, she won a grant from the Chihuahuan Institute of Culture to publish a collection of scripts and stories from the theater named “Andares, Cantares.” It was the winner of the Publicaciones del Gobierno del Estado Award. Teresa is also a critically acclaimed filmmaker. She directed and produced two short documentaries about issues related to Tarahumara communities and two short animated films “El Entierro” (2008) and “Tewe Chiva Nesero” (2007) which received honorable mention at the Chihuahua International Film Festival. SUNÚ (2015) is her first feature film. Teresa is passionate about teaching art at the Center for Education for the Blind (CEIAC). She recently collaborated with blind artists and installed two art exhibitions, one of which strives to communicate to people what it’s like to be blind in Chihuahua.

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Sheffield International DOC/FEST, Official Selection in Competition for the Sheffield Environmental Award, World Premiere
DUHOK International Film Festival, Asian Premiere
Take One Action Film Festival, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Roots Film Festival, Azores Portugal
BIFED – Bozcaada International Festival of Ecological Documentary, Bozcaada, Turkey
DocsDF 2015, 10th International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City, Mexican Premiere
UK Food Sovereignty Movement, Cultural Festival
Madre Tierra Indigenous- Slow Food, Indigenous Film Festival, Shillong India
La Semana de Cine Mexicano en tu Ciudad de CONACULTA a través IMCINE, Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico
El Maíz el Otro Oro de América, Presentación Cultural, Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Festival de Cine Documental Mexicano Zanate, Colima, Mexico, Special Honorable Mention
El Festival del Huerto Roma Verde, Mexico City, Mexico
Unslaved Corn Festival, Hong Kong China
el Festival de Cine de la Heroica Ciudad Juárez, Juárez Chihuahua, Mexico
The 37th Festival Internacional Del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, Havana, Cuba
Centro de Agricultura, Paraná, Argentina
Maison de Mexique, Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Paris France
2016 Portland EcoFilm Festival, Oregon, US
VIII Women’s Film Festival, Milán Italy
Premiere in the Sierra Tarahumara, Festival of the Maize, Bacajípare Chihuahua, Mexico
Premiere de SUNÚ en la Cd de Chihuahua (Febrero 2016) presentación cultural
Screening, Green on the Screen Film, London, United Kingdom
The Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG31), Guadalajara, Mexico
Films des 28e Rencontres, Discover Documentary Section, Toulouse, France
Ambulante Documentary Film Festival Mexico
Festival of the Corn, Ixtenco, Tlaxcala, Mexico
Cinema Planeta, Festival Internacional del Medio Ambiente, In Competition, Morelos México
Contra el Silencio Todas las Voces, México
San Francisco Green Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
5th Muestra Ecofalante de Cine Ambiental, Sao Pablo Brasil
FICMY, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mérida y Yucatán, Yucatán, Mexico
Ecozine International Film Festival, Zaragoza, Spain
Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos, Buenos Aires, Argentina
5th Iran International Green Festival, Tehran, Iran
Latin American Studies Association International Film Festival, New York, NY