In this episode, Jolie speaks with Academy Award-nominated Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante and associate professor of contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Literature, Film, and Trans-Atlantic studies Dr. Pedro Porbén. They discuss the role that films have historically played in political and social revolutions and explore the cultural significance and societal symbolism of legends and fictitious monsters in literature and film.
Announcer: From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas.Musical Intro :I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.Jolie:Welcome back to the Big Ideas podcast. A collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Jolie Sheffer, associate professor of English and American culture studies and the director of ICS. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we are not recording in the studio, but remotely via phone and computer. As always, the opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees. The region in which Bowling Green State University and its campuses are situated, inhabit the Great Black Swamp and the lower Great Lakes region. This land is the homeland of the Wyandotte, Kickapoo, Miami, Potawatomi, Ottawa, and multiple other Indigenous tribal nations, present and past, who were forcibly removed to and from the area. We recognize these historical and contemporary ties in our efforts towards de-colonizing history. And we honor the Indigenous individuals and communities who have been living and working on this land from time immemorial.Jolie:Today, we're joined by Jayro Bustamante and Dr. Pedro Porben. Jayro Bustamante is a Guatemalan born director who has recently released his third film La Llorona. He has received the Venice Days, Best Director award at the Venice International Film Festival. And he's been listed as one of the most promising filmmakers of 2020, in Sight & Sound magazine. And he's made it to the short list for the academy awards. Dr. Pedro Porben is an associate professor here at BGSU teaching contemporary Latin American and Caribbean literature, film, and cultural and critical theory as well as transatlantic studies. Thank you both for joining me today. Very glad to have you here.Jayro:Thank you so much.Pedro:Thank you for having us.Jayro:Happy to be here too.Jolie:My first question is for you Jayro. You recently released your third film to great acclaim. Without giving away any spoilers, can you give us a brief summary of the plot of La Llorona?Jayro: La Llorona is a film talking about a motherland who is [inaudible 00:02:14] their disappeared children. And in a way, separates traits of Guatemala. Jolie:How did you make your way into filmmaking? Your work is deeply engaged with social issues. And how did you find your way to filmmaking as the right way for you to make a statement around the social issues that matter to you?Jayro:Oh, it's very complicated because I think it's a whole thing. It's a whole life. And then I grew up in a community in the central Highlands of Guatemala. And my grandma was a woman, Mayan descendant. And I discovered when I was eight, that she was making a lot of effort to hide her origins. And after that I discovered that my family was making efforts to hide her origins. And the village was making effort to hide the origins of every Indigenous people. And at that moment, I had conscious that in Guatemala being an Indigenous people was the cause of shame. And in a way I decide to dedicate my career, to fight against discrimination and to quote Rigoberta Menchú, I can say that at that moment, my conscious was born.Jolie:And for you, how did you decide filmmaking would be the best way or the right way for the kind of social action once your consciousness was raised?Jayro:Oh for me, I consid
