WAYS TO TRAVERSE A TERRITORY

Formas de Atravesar un Territorio

A family of Indigenous Tsotsil women herd sheep on a green mountain slope in southern Mexico. The film observes them shearing and dyeing the wool and walking with the animals through the mountains. Filmmaker Gabriela Dominguez Ruvalcaba converses with the women—sometimes literally. The mime-style scenes, in which the women perform their daily activities, and the poetic eye for details, such as tufts of wool swirling like snow through the air, all contribute to a film that explores the ways humankind can shape its environment and the marks it leaves behind.

THE FILMMAKER

Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba is a director and editor. Her work is nourished by interdisciplinary experiences around narratives and explorations that arise from her interest in dance and the environment. Since her first documentary La Danza del Hipocampo (2014) she began a search into the forms of film essay that led her to study a master's degree at the EICTV (Cuba). She is a graduate of the UDLAP communication degree and the master's degree in Creative Documentary at the Autonomous University of Barcelona; she is part of the National System of Art Creators (2020-2023). "Formas de Atravesar un Territorio" is her second feature film premiered at Locarno Film Festival and FICUNAM in 2024. She is currently directing her third feature-length documentary “Un Murmullo Recorre la Tierra” (The Whisper of a Seed).

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Best of Fests Selection - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) – Netherlands
Best Feature Film Award – Portland EcoFilm Festival – United States
Official Selection – Latin American Studies Association Film Festival
National Autonomous University of Mexico Int’l Film Festival (FICUNAM) – Mexico
Locarno Film Festival – Switzerland
Morelia International Film Festival (FICM)

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