JVOBTIK - Our Music

Synopsis:

In a tsotsil community of Mexico, where all the sounds come to life, the musical tradition of a family of musicians is transmitted from one generation to another: from the grandfather, who lives his last melodies; the son, who assumes the position of traditional musician; and the grandson who has the pleasure to continue with the musical memory of his family.

Humberto Gómez Pérez

Short Bio

Humberto Gómez Pérez was born in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas. He’s a speaker of Tsotsil Maya and studied intercultural communication and supplemented his training through different workshops and courses in writing, technical narratives, literary and audiovisual creation and film. He has focused on the development of works and proposals in Tsotsil. Within the framework of the Documentary Film School of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, he made the short film ''J'vobtik, our music'' and finished developing ''Ch'ul be, sacred path'', his first documentary feature film.

Full Bio

Humberto Gómez Pérez was born in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas. He speaks Tsotsil and studied intercultural communication at the Intercultural University of Chiapas. He supplemented his training through different workshops and courses in writing, technical narrative, literary and audiovisual creation and film. Within the framework of the School of Documentary Film of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, he made the short film ''J'vobtik, our music'' and finished developing ''Ch'ul be, sacred path'', his first documentary feature film.

Humberto has developed professionally in communication and the arts and culture, focusing on the development of works and proposals in Tsotsil. He has given talks in different spaces, translated scripts, provided Spanish-Tsotsil simultaneous interpreting, and organized different cultural initiatives. In 2014, Humberto founded Satil Film, an organization dedicated to the promotion and production of documentary and audiovisual film. He is a member of the civil association, Mayan and Zoque Writers Unit, and co-author of the books “Stso’op Joj, Crows' Nest”, “Sk’op bolom-sk’op choj / Words of the Jaguar”, published by UNEMAZ, and “Cuentos indígenas mexicanos desde Chiapas [Mexican indigenous stories from Chiapas]”, published by Ediciones Catay.

Statement:

“Jvobtik - Our Music” is a short documentary film that explores the sounds of a small tsotsil community of south Mexico. We, as tsotsil indigenous, are used to be surrounded by the music of life itself, in our communities each sound comes to life and gives colour to the landscape. The sound of the mountains, the animals, the rain, the wind, is at the origin of our traditional music, and maybe that is why this music is always present in every aspect of our life. The traditions are transmitted from generation to generation alongside the music and our lands are the base of these traditions and this music. This connection is what I aim to show and share in this work.

Festivals:

I Festival de cine “Puy ta Cuxlejaltic" (Chiapas, Mexico)

XIV DocsMX Festival de Cine Documental de la Ciudad de México

XVII Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia (Michoacán, Mexico)

IV Ocote Miradas Encendidas (Mexico)

IX FIBABC Festival Iberoamericano de cortometrajes ABC (Spain)

XIII Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente Villa de Leyva (Colombia)

XVIII Festival Internacional Cervantino Barroco (Mexico)

XIV Muestra Cine+Video Indígena (Chile)

Festival Itinerante Cine en Mi Barrio (Popayán, Colombia)

VII BANGIFF Bankok Thai International Film Festival (Thailand)

ILINDEN DAYS 2022 International Ethnographic Film Festival (North Macedonia)

You are here

JVOBTIK - Our Music