The portrait of the end of the world Sanctorum It takes place in the middle of a rural context with its own cosmogony, where the sound of army assault weapons and drug trafficking is easily confused with the roar from the sky that heralds the apocalypse. It is a hybrid essay between documentary and fantastic cinema, in which the alarming situation of the countryside in Mexico and a metaphysical discourse on the hopelessness of humanity converge. This is the new movie Joshua Gilwhich will finally have its commercial premiere in cinemas in the Mexican Republic.
“It seems that the field is a trite topic sometimes for the cinema [mexicano], just like drug trafficking, just like violence. A theme that is recurrent in many directors and in many generations of filmmakers. However, it seems to me that the approaches are completely different”, the filmmaker from Puebla told PREMIERE CINEMA within the framework of the 17th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), where it won the Ojo for Best Director of a Mexican Fiction Feature Film
The film takes place in a small indigenous community in the southeast of the country, cornered by the war between soldiers and members of organized crime. As a result of this conflict, a boy has lost his mother and her grandmother tells him that the only way to get her back is by asking the forces of nature for a miracle. One night, both plots converge when the little boy goes to the forest to beg for his mother, while the town prepares to wage a final battle for his freedom against the uniformed men.
“Definitely the end of the world was a topic that deserved three years of work. It was important to approach it in an intelligent, sensitive way, in order to offer the viewer a different version of what Hollywood tells us is the end.. For me it was very important that it was in a small town in Mexico where the beginning of the end of everything was witnessed, ”she asserted.
Joshua Gil has a close relationship with the field due to his family history, as we were able to explore in his feature debut Evilpremiered in the Forum section of the Berlinale in 2015. The latter is a docufiction with biographical overtones, starring his grandfather Rafael Gil Morán, a peasant who is facing a terminal illness and who risks everything to bring him to the City of Mexico a script composed of 12 songs written by himself, where he narrates his life.
With Sanctorum, the director continues to explore issues such as the neglect and marginalization of the population from rural areas, leaving a film testimony on inequality, exploitation and impunity against peasants. Gil relates that the idea arose when he came across a couple of reports about the current situation in the countryside, which emphasized the fact that there is a generation of indigenous children who are being raised on the marijuana and poppy plots, with drug trafficking figures as the only models of life.
“When the field no longer gives for the subsistence of the peasant, the peasant has to find other ways to get ahead. So, when they are looking for how to diversify what they can plant, they find offers that sometimes they have to take. It’s not that it’s a matter of will. It’s a need they face“, it states.
criminalization of innocents
After completing a script sketch of approximately 20 pages, the director decided to tour the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Puebla and Guerrero, cautiously looking for communities immersed in this problem. During his investigation, Gil became aware of the serious criminalization of which day laborers are victims, as well as the strong prejudices that exist among the bulk of the general population..
“It is a taboo subject because they are families that have found subsistence through this illegal planting system., but it works and that is the best option they have to have access to food, education and some stability, because it’s not like they’re millionaire people, “explains Gil. “The only thing they do is sow, harvest and deliver to someone else, that ‘someone else’ we know who it is, and that ‘someone else’ really keeps the profits from that product.”
The director once again opted for the authenticity of the locations and organic interpretations. Sanctorum It was filmed in real marijuana fields with real peasants and drug traffickers. The tape is partially spoken in Spanish and in Mixe, the native language of the region where the filming took place. “Before starting [una película] I have to find out if there really is someone who can work in real life to film what I want. And the surprise was that there were people who were willing and had perfectly managed the emotions that I needed, “he said.
The negotiations with the owners of the land to be able to film were long and despite the constant surveillance of armed people, Gil affirms that the environment of the filming was safe. The main challenge came from the weather conditions and accessibility to the area. The director describes walking for an hour and a half every day to the top of the mountain range with the film crew in tow, in sub-zero temperatures with rain and fog, which forced him to change to crew on a couple of occasions.
Training cinematographer, Joshua Gil worked at the beginning of his career as a camera assistant in Japan (2003), the debut feature by Carlos Reygadas. For Sanctorum, he knew he needed someone who knew how to handle natural light and solve spontaneous production problems at a technical level. His choice was Matthew Guzmanwho photographed earth and shadow (2015), winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes. The audiovisual package was completed by the sound designer, Sergio Diaz (Rome), who collaborated with Evil.
The final challenge stemmed from the fantasy elements present throughout the film. “The universe of special effects is very delicate because it seems that while you’re filming everything is possible, but the reality is that if it’s not well executed, then you run into endless problems,” describes Gil. “Until recently, Mexican cinema had not become so familiar with CGI and we have characters completely created with computer visual effects and in the indigenous universe where we were filming it was difficult to imagine what the result was going to be like.”
Sanctorum It began its development under the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, whose political history was marked by the repression of peasants from Atenco in 2006, when he was governor of the State of Mexico. His time as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces would only add new cases of possible human rights violations against people from less favored communities. Although Gil admits that there is “hope” that the situation in the countryside can improve with the new federal government, he affirms that nothing has been said.
“At some point when the change of government was made we were finished Sanctorum and we were like, ‘how is this going to impact this story?’ And now I can tell you that this story comes in handy in this context. We are in a transition period. Let’s see how deep and transcendental the work can be [del Gobierno]. That only time will tell”, reflected the filmmaker.
Sanctorum became the first Mexican film in history to close the Critics’ Week at the Venice International Film Festival in 2019. However, its premiere national in Morelia a few months later had a very special meaning. The film received the Next Award from the Tribeca Film Institute at Impulso Morelia 2 within the framework of the 14th FICM in 2016, being the first financial support they received to start production. Two years later, he would obtain the Premio Estudios Splendor Omnia at Impulso Morelia 4 with which they were able to finance the post-production process. Joshua Gil declares himself enthusiastic about presenting his project in Aztec lands.
“I hope that [Sanctorum] be a bomb That people say to me: ‘what were you thinking?’, ‘why did you do this?’ Let them question me all they want. that’s what i’m waiting for”, he concluded.
Sanctorum It opens on September 22, 2022 in theaters in Mexico.