Ana Ts'uyeb's Li cham (Morelia) wins Best Documentary at Morelia Film Festival
Ana Ts’uyeb’s debut documentary Li cham (Morelia) has won Best Documentary Feature at the 24th Morelia International Film Festival. The film offers a quiet yet powerful look at three women whose lives were shaped by the 1994 Zapatista uprising. Through intimate storytelling, it blends personal voices with poetic imagery. Li cham (Morelia) follows Margarita Hernández Hernández, Juana Vázquez Gómez, and Faustina Cruz Ruiz—three women from Chiapas whose daily routines carry the weight of history. Margarita, a weaver and coffee harvester, is also the filmmaker’s mother. Juana, the director’s aunt, serves as a community leader in the village of Naranjatic. Faustina, married to Ts’uyeb’s cousin, devotes herself to domestic work.
The 27-year-old Tzotzil filmmaker handles every creative role herself, from writing and directing to editing and art direction. Her approach is minimalist: no titles, no background music, and no voiceovers. Instead, the film relies on the lyrical strength of everyday moments, captured by photographer José Alfredo Jiménez Pérez. Critics describe the documentary as an empathetic chorus of lived experience. Its understated style lets the women’s voices stand on their own, making their stories both personal and emblematic.
The award at Morelia 24 highlights Ts’uyeb’s skill in turning ordinary lives into compelling cinema. Li cham (Morelia) now stands as a testament to the quiet resilience of its subjects. The film’s success also marks a significant milestone for Indigenous storytelling in Mexican documentary cinema.
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