Guie'dani's Navel

"Presented at the 2018 Morelia International Film Festival, 'El ombligo de Guie'dani' shared its year of release with Alfonso Cuarón's 'La camarista' and 'Roma', which are thematically similar: the three portray, each from their own particular perspective, the unequal relationships between domestic or cleaning employees – many times of indigenous origin – and their employers, almost always Caucasian and middle class. However, more in line with the first than the second, 'El ombligo de Guie'dani' openly challenges the traditional and idealized representation that is usually expected of characters like its protagonist, who in cinema and television are usually portrayed as passive and servile. Director Xavi Sala takes the necessary distance to represent both sides of this class and racial conflict, too often seen in Mexican reality. The performance of his young protagonist, Sótera Cruz, captures the contestatory essence of her character in her defiant gaze (whose name means "wild flower" in Zapotec), and for that she was deserving of a special mention at the Morelia Festival. The film also competed in several festivals around the world, such as the Chicago International Film Festival, the FotoFilm Tijuana Festival, Rotterdam Curaçao International Film Festival, the Yerevan International Film Festival (Armenia), and the Huelva Iberoamerican Film Festival, where it deserved the Prize of Radio Exterior of Spain."