Pictured: Midnight Family
By Stephanie Ornelas
A great way to get to know a city as culturally unique and rich as Mexico City is to listen to the stories told by those who work there and help keep it running. Documentaries give us the opportunity to do that. They challenge our perspectives and give us a deeper understanding of communities around the world.
We recently highlighted seven films centered on Mexico City written by women in anticipation of the first edition of Sundance Film Festival CDMX. Now, with the Festival just one week away, we’re turning our attention to the nonfiction stories that focus on the everyday lives of working people in Mexico City, from ambulance drivers and housekeepers to sewer divers and construction workers.
If you plan on attending Sundance Film Festival CDMX from April 25–28, take a moment to celebrate Ciudad de México and check out these seven Sundance-supported docs that depict the joys and struggles of workers and their families in Mexico City.
Paulina — 1998 Sundance Film Festival
This powerful documentary centers on a middle-aged housekeeper who spends her days working for wealthy families in Mexico City and reflecting on her childhood in Veracruz. Through dramatic reenactments, the film tells the story of when she returns to her village to confront her family about a traumatic childhood memory.
Vicky Funari’s project, which was filmed in Mexico City, had its U.S. premiere at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Check here for viewing options.
Megacities — 1999 Sundance Film Festival
Michael Glawogger documents the everyday lives of citizens in four different cities — Mexico City, Bombay, New York, and Moscow. Over 12 chapters, the film examines and compares the different forms of urban living in four distinct corners of the world.
“Megacities covers the spectrum from exotic to well-known territories, from the man who sells cooked chicken feet in Mexico [City] to the young woman operating a factory crane in Moscow,” writes Dimitri Eipdes in the Festival Program Guide. Check here for viewing options.
In the Pit — 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Documentary Film Program
This fascinating doc follows several construction workers in Mexico City as they build the second story of the Periferico Freeway. Through intimate footage, audiences witness the stark realities and struggles of hundreds of laborers who are working to build the enormous road.
“The film chronicles long days of arduous work, risk-taking, joking, swearing, and philosophizing — rendering its subjects palpable and dimensional by virtue of perceptiveness as much as craft,” writes Shannon Kelley in the Festival Program Guide.
Director Juan Carlos Rulfo received support from Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program in 2004 and 2005, and his project was honored with the Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Check here for viewing options.
Plaza de la Soledad — 2016 Sundance Film Festival
For years, Maya Goded has been documenting the lives of four prostitutes working around the Plaza de la Soledad in Mexico City, an area known for its high levels of crime. Despite all four of them overflowing with the energy of youth, they can’t escape the dark side of their past. As they get older, they learn how to give each other companionship and strength.
“Photographer-turned-filmmaker Maya Goded refuses to shy away from the painful aspects of these women’s jobs. She leads us into their histories, families, superstitions, and hopes, while allowing the camera to hone in on the contours of their well-worn bodies — beautiful and real,” writes Harry Vaughn in the Festival Program Guide. Check here for viewing options.
The Diver — 2017 Sundance Film Festival
Esteban Arrangoiz’s documentary short follows Julio César Cu Cámara, who loves his job as the chief diver in the Mexico City sewer system. Every day, he repairs pumps and dislodges garbage that flows into the gutters to maintain the circulation of sewage waters. And he takes pride in his work.
“Mexico is undergoing multiple crises: humanitarian, corruption, garbage. This film shows us how, through his work, a human being is capable of finding beauty, pleasure, and the essence of his humanity inside the detritus,” wrote Arrangoiz for The New York Times. “This moves me, gives me hope, and compels me to make movies. I think Mexico needs stories like these.” Watch the short here.
A Cop Movie — 2019 Sundance Institute | Luminate Fund
Director Alonso Ruizpalacios delves into corruption in the Mexican police force by following two officers in Mexico City. The documentary shows how the two cops develop an emotional bond that becomes a refuge for the hostility they are constantly exposed to.
In 2019, Ruizpalacios received support from The Sundance Institute | Luminate Fund, and his project had its world premiere at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival. Check here for viewing options.
Midnight Family — 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Documentary Film Program, Producers Program
In this emotional documentary, Luke Lorentzen introduces audiences to the Ochoa family and their private ambulance business in Mexico City. The film follows the family as they compete with other for-profit EMTs for patients needing urgent help in one of the city’s wealthiest areas.
“With striking vérité camerawork, Midnight Family drops us directly into the frenetic nighttime emergency ecosystem of Mexico City. In the midst of high-speed ambulance rides, we meet the Ochoas, a ragtag family of private paramedics, who try desperately every day to be the first responders to critically injured patients,” writes Harry Vaughn in the Festival Program Guide.
Lorentzen was a fellow in Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program and Producers Program in 2017. His project premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and went on to receive the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography. Check here for viewing options.
