THE MODERN JUNGLE is a portrait of globalization filtered through the fever dream of a Mexican shaman, don Juan, who falls under the spell of a pyramid-scheme-marketed nutritional supplement. Juan's neighbor Carmen lives simply, in harmony with the land her martyred husband paid for with his life. The Modern Jungle documents their struggles and encounters with outside forces: from capitalism and commodity fetish, to the culture of cinema and the directors of this film.
The Modern Jungle is also a deeply engaging, critical film about documentary. It doesn't shy away from the messy tangle of interpersonal, economic, and social relations inherent to cross-cultural filmmaking. Rather, it addresses these challenges with astonishing directness.
THE MODERN JUNGLE was made by Charles Fairbanks (USA) and Saul Kak (Mexico). Kak is an internationally acclaimed painter and native speaker of Zoque whose art practice is dedicated to the "cosmovisión" and rights of his people. Fairbanks is a filmmaker, writer, and Guggenheim fellow whose films have screened on POV and at Anthology Film Archives, CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel, and at hundreds of festivals across six continents. Together, their films strive to document modern challenges of Zoque people in a way that conveys their unique worldview: this cosmovision.
For more information, see the presskit.
BEST DOCUMENTARY at Présence Autochtone: First Peoples Festival of Montreal
JURY AWARD at the Athens International Film & Video Festival
JURY AWARD at Slamdance
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