Tote Abuelo

In her beautiful debut documentary feature, Tzotzil filmmaker María Sojob shares the unexpectedly tender encounter between herself and her elderly grandfather as she tries to make sense of their family’s complicated expressions of love.

María returns to her ancestral home of Chenalhó to spend time with her estranged Tote (grandfather). With graceful, gentle pacing and a skillful eye for simplicity that is both stunning and profound, Tote Abuelo unfolds in a richly nuanced way. As her grandfather weaves a traditional hat amidst failing eyesight, the threads of their family history are untangled, revealing the complexity of answers María is in search of. The generational shifts in parenting and affection, especially towards women, changing societal context, and her own experience as a mother deeply inform the film. Between the silences, in the shared company of her grandfather, she comes to understand, and also to live, the meaning of love in Tzotzil.

Director/Writer: María Sojob (Tzotzil)
Mexico | 2019 | 80 min
Tzotzil/Spanish w English Subtitles | Documentary Feature
Canadian Premiere

Availability: North America
Content Warnings: None

María Sojob is an award-winning Tzotzil filmmaker and educator from Chiapas in southern Mexico. Her films explore and reflect Mayan/Tzotzil women’s knowledge, narratives, and aesthetic ways. 

This event is sponsored by:

Special thanks to our community Co-Presenters Morelia International Film Festival