NOW STREAMING ON
Executive Producers
LANCE HASTINGS
BRADY SKYE
Associate Producers
KRISTIN BIGALKE
M.A. HASTINGS
SCOTT VAUGHAN
Director, Narrator, Editor
Cinematographer
BRADY SKYE
JUSTIN WIRTALLA
Motion Designer
Re-recording Mixer
THOMAS COLLIER
TONY CROWE
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An American traveler seeks to deepen his understanding of Yucatecan Maya culture by living with indigenous families, shifting the focus from the archaeological past to contemporary traditions, and uncovering an ancient philosophy that could offer a key to a better world.
In lak' ech; a lak' en
I am you; you are me.
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​A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR:
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As the director, this film changed my life forever. Throughout the development I was frequently encouraged to frame the Maya through the lens of conflict or injustice. This pressure did not come from them, but the conventions of documentary storytelling from a western upbringing, where conflict is often an essential drive for what many consider a great story.
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What surprised me most was the Maya’s resistance to that approach. While their history includes so much exploitation and marginalization that unfortunately still remains, they consistently redirected conversations away from adversity and toward continuity, family, and gratitude. Focusing on their hardships, they explained, is simply against their spiritually and way of life.
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Choosing to honor this perspective required a degree of restraint that was, at times, uncomfortable. It meant trusting that an audience could be moved without being provoked. It also meant accepting that some viewers might mistake quiet for avoidance, or humility for omission.
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Over the course of five years, across Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, and through repeated visits to ruins and living communities, it became clear that the greatest form of hope within the Maya world was not tied to resistance, but to preservation. The film did not give them hope. It bore witness to it. In doing so, it also challenged my own assumptions about storytelling, success, and the legacy we leave behind.
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- Brady Skye
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More than three millennia old, Maya culture moves with grace before those who regard it as past history. However, today close to six million individuals form part of this ethnic group, heir to a great tradition that day by day re-creates its identity by incorporating new ways of understanding the world.
The Maya is not merely an archeological legacy, a snapshot frozen in time or an inanimate museum piece. It is also the sum of knowledge, resources, perceptions, attitudes, and relations guiding this collectivity, which is reproduced and connected to an economically uncertain, globalized world in constant transformation.
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(Grand Maya World Museum, 2022)
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