VAYCHILETIK (DREAMS)

Synopsis:

Through his dreams, José received a gift given by the gods. A gift that brings consequences. Now that he is at a mature age in life, José would like to rest, but he is not allowed. Vaychiletik explores this fierce yet beautiful reality, forged from the dreams of the Mayan people of Mexico.

Juan Javier Pérez

Short Bio

Juan Javier Pérez was born in 1989 in Chiapas, Mexico, in the Maya Tsotsil village of Zinacantán. Since he was a child, he has participated in ceremonies of his community as a companion of his father, a renowned traditional musician. Alongside with cousins and friends, he began an exploration of sounds typical of Zinacantán culture and he is the drummer of the tsotsil rock band "Yibel". He studied a degree in Intercultural Communication at the UNICH and then Documentary at the Documentary Film School of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. "Vaychiletik" is his first documentary feature film.

Full Bio

Juan Javier was born in 1989 in Chiapas, Mexico, in the Mayan Tsotsil village of "Sots'Leb" - "place of the bats" - known as Zinacantán since the Spanish conquest. From the age of 8, Juan Javier attended community ceremonies with his father and learned to play the Zinacanteco drum until he became part of a group of traditional musicians. He studied a degree in Intercultural Communication at the Intercultural University of Chiapas, and his first approach to cinema was through various documentary film workshops, awakening the need to tell about life from his culture. As part of the Documentary Film School of San Cristobal de Las Casas he made his first short film "Nichimal Son" (Blooming Music) and developed his first feature film "Vaychiletik" (Dreams). In 2017 he participated with this documentary project in PlataformaMX, as part of the Mexico City International Documentary Film Festival DOCSMX, where he won an award to participate in the TFI Network 2018, Tribeca Film Institute, in New York City. In 2021 he premiered "Vaychiletik" at the Latin American Film Festival of Biarritz (France), winning a Special Jury Award. The film has been screened at more than 40 festivals around the world, winning several awards, including a Special Jury Mention at the Morelia International Film Festival (Mexico) and the Living Heritage Prize at the Jean Rouch International Film Festival (France).

Statement:

VAYCHILETIK means dreams in the Mayan language of Tsotsil, and is dedicated to the men and women guardians who give their lives to fight, resist and dream for the flourishing of our original cultures.

This is a story that I have known since my childhood. When a community festival was coming, I knew I needed to make sure my traditional clothing, my pok’uil (embroidered cotton over shirt) was ready. In the evenings I would accompany my father to watch him play music for the ceremonies, even though they were long and we would stay up very late. I needed to stay awake and take care of my father, because the effects of pox (the ceremonial liquor) would make him feel festive and sometimes stubborn. The sounds of the harp, the guitar, the violin, the reed flute, and the drum, together with the smell of copal, lulled me to sleep and I would dream.

This film is a fragment of my father’s life. Through his dreams, he was given a gift, a gift that couldn’t be refused for fear that the gods would punish him. My mother has given refuge to his dreams and nightmares, and with this film I wish to honor them both. Through this film, this history will remain forever in our memory, and this cultural construction can be shared, this way of life guided by a world both fierce and beautiful, the Tsotsil culture of Chiapas, Mexico.