Dance of the Souls Takes Oaxaca's Masked Day of the Dead Dances to Morelia
Mexican filmmaker Ramón Llaven's Dance of the Souls is screening at the Morelia Film Festival, where it sits in the Mexican Documentary section. The film is set in his native Oaxaca and follows the muerteadas, a Day of the Dead tradition in which masked revelers dance in remembrance of people they have lost. Variety reports that the film observes local communities of the Etla Valley.
The dances are long. According to Variety, a muerteada can run for more than 12 hours, and up to 18 hours in some villages. The costumes are heavy too. Variety says those decorated with bells and mirrors can weigh up to 20 kilograms.
The Morelia festival describes the story this way: on the Day of the Dead in the Etla Valley, a soul returns to visit its loved ones and wander the places it once knew. The Spanish title is El baile de las ánimas, which translates roughly as "the dance of the spirits."
The film is produced by Fata Morgana and Eudiamonía Films, in co-production with Estudios Churubusco Azteca and Lost Time Media. The festival's listing calls it a Mexico-Canada production. Llaven is credited as director and writer, and the festival also lists Eduardo Navarrete, Marc Serpa Francoeur and Llaven in production roles.
Morelia's 24th edition runs from 16 to 25 October. The festival's schedule lists Dance of the Souls at 17:30 local time on Friday 23 October, after an earlier listing on Thursday 22 October at 18:30. Presale tickets for each screening go on sale online and at box offices two days before, starting at 10:00. Viewers can buy at moreliafilmfest.com/programacion for films showing within the next two days.
The film has also been programmed at DocsMX in Mexico City and at the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival in the Czech Republic, according to Variety. Festival slots like these are where documentaries often find their first audiences, before any wider release is decided.
