THE MODERN JUNGLE
Price: $350.00Code: 2567 |
Directed by Charles Fairbanks and Saul Kak
2017, 71 minutes
Purchase $350 | Classroom rental: $125
The Modern Jungle is a portrait of globalization filtered through Carmen and Juan, two Zoque people, and how modernity has affected their identity and relation to the indigenous culture. This film documents their struggles and encounters with outside forces: from capitalism and commodity fetish, to the culture of cinema, and the directors of this film.
Juan is a Mexican shaman who suffers from a hernia that his incantations cannot treat, and falls under the spell of charlatans who sell him nutritional supplements as medicine. His neighbor, Carmen, lives simply in harmony with the land her martyred husband paid for with his life. Originally set out to make an honest documentary of Zoque culture, directors Charles Fairbanks and Saul Kak fall into a tough position when both Carmen and Juan ask them for money because they are “working” for the film. By hiding nothing of this partly venal relationship, the directors challenge the Western-centered ethnology and cinematic myth of a “pure” native untouched by outside forces.
Jury Award, Feature Documentary Competition Slamdance
Official Selection WATCH:DOCS – Human Rights in Film
Official Selection Festival Cinéma Vérité
Official Selection Ann Arbor Film Festival
Official Selection Atlanta Film Festival
- Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Hammer To Nail
"A distillation of the modern documentary’s interest in blurring the line between not only fact and fiction but truth and performance."
- Joshua Brunsting, Criterion Cast
2017, 71 minutes
Purchase $350 | Classroom rental: $125
The Modern Jungle is a portrait of globalization filtered through Carmen and Juan, two Zoque people, and how modernity has affected their identity and relation to the indigenous culture. This film documents their struggles and encounters with outside forces: from capitalism and commodity fetish, to the culture of cinema, and the directors of this film.
Juan is a Mexican shaman who suffers from a hernia that his incantations cannot treat, and falls under the spell of charlatans who sell him nutritional supplements as medicine. His neighbor, Carmen, lives simply in harmony with the land her martyred husband paid for with his life. Originally set out to make an honest documentary of Zoque culture, directors Charles Fairbanks and Saul Kak fall into a tough position when both Carmen and Juan ask them for money because they are “working” for the film. By hiding nothing of this partly venal relationship, the directors challenge the Western-centered ethnology and cinematic myth of a “pure” native untouched by outside forces.
Subjects & Collections
Festivals & Awards
World Premiere - Visions du RéelJury Award, Feature Documentary Competition Slamdance
Official Selection WATCH:DOCS – Human Rights in Film
Official Selection Festival Cinéma Vérité
Official Selection Ann Arbor Film Festival
Official Selection Atlanta Film Festival
Reviews
"A fascinating and self-aware examination of both cinematic and economic exploitation."- Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Hammer To Nail
"A distillation of the modern documentary’s interest in blurring the line between not only fact and fiction but truth and performance."
- Joshua Brunsting, Criterion Cast