Credits: screenplay: Marta Ferrer; director of photography: Hugo Royer, Marta Ferrer, Oriol Inglada; editor: Javier Campos; sound: Adolfo Cortés, Ares Botanch, Miriam Gago; producer: Marta Ferrer; production: La Maroma Producciones, Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica;

Country: Mexico

Year: 2009

Running time: 75

Colour: Colour

Format: DV CAM

Ferrer went to a rancho, a small rural community, in the plains of central Mexico. Some of the residents still work the land, some work in the three new maquiladores (assembly plants), where labor conditions are horrid but there are few options to make any kind of living. A high proportion of the inhabitants have migrated to the U.S., and their earnings sustain their families back home, yet their absence creates a void in the town’s spirit. She films the celebrations during the community’s patron saint’s day, then follows the participants afterward as they return to the drudgery on working the land, sweating in the maquiladores, or just hanging out on the street. Here one sees the terrible damage perpetrated by NAFTA (North American Free Trade Alliance) on small agricultural producers while large transnationals reap the profits. Yet the film is in its way beautiful and poignant, respectful of the locals and their attempts to maintain some dignity.