Guie'dani's Navel

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In a star-making performance, Sótera Cruz brings razor-sharp intensity to her portrayal of Guie’dani, a Zapotec girl determined to fight for her dignity.

Guie’dani is dragged to Mexico City by her mother to help in her work as a housekeeper for an upper-middle-class family. There, the subtle psychological subjugation inflicted by the white family functions as a metaphor for the oppression of the old world by the new. Yet, Guie’dani rejects the life of servitude and seeks her own identity through a friendship with another rebellious teen.

A striking contrast to Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, Guie’dani’s Navel is a unique coming-of-age narrative exploring the racism inflicted on indigenous people in Mexico and the empowerment of a new generation that refuses to accept it silently.

* Spanish language audio description is available via the ALL4ACCESS App and/or .wav file when purchasing a DSL license.

Accessibility for these films was created by DICAPTA and funded under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education- Office of Special Education-OSEP, project “Enhanced Access to Video for Students with Sensory Disabilities through Emerging Technology,” TV Access H327C210001.

"Sincere performances and thoughtfully written characters having profound interactions with one another. Suitable for audiences of a wide age range, it has immense potential for fostering discussions about discrimination (including same-race discrimination), casual and overt racism, classism, identity, cultural differences, wealth disparity, privilege, and more. It is highly recommended." — Dorian Bowen, Archivist/Film Historian, EMRO

"Honest portrait that describes a reality of the country." — Alejandro Alemán, Diario El Universal

"Catharsis fails and leads to a much more bitter and plausible resolution." — Leonardo García Tsao, Diario La Jornada

"The antithesis of the portrayal of a maid maintaining and fulfilling her expected role in society as depicted in the movie Roma." — Carlos Bonfil, Diario La Jornada

"Alongside Roma and The Chambermaid, Guie'dani's Navel breaks with a certain type of idealized and false representation that until recently was the norm in Mexican cinema." — Fernanda Solórzano, Letras Libres

"The movie manages to show certain behaviors that have become normalized, but in reality, these are clear signs of racism that we have allowed to become ingrained in our traditions." — Elizabeth Limón, En Filme

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Main credits

Sala, Xavi (film director)
Sala, Xavi (screenwriter)
Sala, Xavi (film producer)
Baños, Julian (film producer)
Cruz, Sótera (actor)
López, Érika (actor)
Alfaroh, Majo (actor)
Del Valle, Yuriria (actor)
Ríos, Juan (actor)

Other credits

Cinematography, Martin Boege, Alberto Anaya Adalid, Ricardo Garfias; editor, Aldo Alvarez Morales.

Keywords

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