Collaborative filmmaking in Guatemala

Visual anthropologist Carlos Y. Flores talks about "collaborative video and shared anthropology", showing clips from "K'ixba'l" (Shame, Guatemala, 2010), his latest film from Guatemala.

The film is based on video footage filmed by members of the mainly indigenous community of Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala , registering several trials to local criminals under Mayan Law. Given the social, cultural and political implications for the people on the ground, the production of the film underwent a series of crucial editing decisions. Filmed in K'iche' communities, a highly volatile location where State law is almost inexistent, common criminality is high, and several community forms of conflict resolution are practiced, the film aims to illustrate how some Mayan organizations in the region are re-elaborating the norms and practices of their community justice drawing on elements of their own culture.
 
Carlos Y. Flores studied at the National School of Anthropology and History in Mexico and has a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Manchester, UK, where he specialized in visual anthropology at the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology. He taught for a number of years as a visiting lecturer on the MA programme in Visual Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has published numerous articles on visual anthropology, political violence and processes of community reconstruction in the Maya region. He has also collaborated on indigenous community video projects in Guatemala, Chiapas and Mexico City. Carlos Y. Flores is currently working at the Department of Anthropology at the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos in Mexico.