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View Trailer: https://vimeo.com/357429940
For information about screening this film contact: robinstarbuckfilms@gmail.com How We See Water is also available in Spanish
“Robin Starbuck is an avant-garde New York filmmaker and video artist whose work examines the ways images are used to inform, insinuate, provoke, and intrigue. Her experimental documentary, "How We See Water" explores the intersections of indigenous history and contemporary life in Chiapas, Mexico through the lives of two young women who work to gain their independence through education. Ruminative, but with an undercurrent of urgency, the film seeks to illuminate the struggles, joys, and contradictions in these young women's lives through the visual experiences that attend them.” Paden Douglas
"How We See Water" follows the lives of two young women, Juana Gomez Ramirez and Rosa Maria Hernandez, in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, as they grow from girls to young women and struggle to fulfill their dreams of obtaining an education while also serving a vital role in earning a living for their families. The survival of children in indigenous Chiapian Mexico is both fragile and resonant with cultural history. Working with the guidance of Melel Xojobal and the Na Bolom Museum, Starbuck filmed with these young girls and their families for over four years. Structurally, ‘How We See Water” utilizes both realistic and non-realistic devices and a shifting temporal emphasis throughout. The film combines footage of Chiapan life with animation, interviews, and dance. Both the visual and aural components of this film seek to interrogate conventional narrative structure and how this is represented in documentary film.
Director/Producer/Writer: Robin Starbuck
Primary Participants: Juana Gomez Ramirez and Rosa Maria Hernandez
Field Producer: Scott Duce
Camera: Robin Starbuck and Scott Duce
Additional Camera: Jeremiah Davis, Hannah Rifkin, Tori Himes
Field Audio Recorder: Tori Himes
Interpreters: Miles Gordon, Sas Weber, Sofia Siedel, Amber Zimay
Research Assistant: Julia Prushan, Xueni Yang, Isabella Vargas, Gayatri Degan,
Communications Management: Paden Douglas
Animation: Robin Starbuck
Music: Zoe Keating www.zoekeating.com
Additional music: Street musicians of San Cristobal de las Casas
Sound Design: Robin Starbuck
Screenings To Date:
New York Film Anthology, NYC
Midnight Soul, Norrbotten, Sweden
Montreal Independent Film Festival, Canada
International New York Film Festival, NYC
Berlin Art Film Festival, Germany
Indie Open, Brooklyn, NY
Toronto Indie Shorts, Toronto, Canada
Boden International Film Festival, Sweden
Socially Relevant Film Festival, NY, NY Award Winner
Amsterdam Short Film Festival, Netherlands
Vermont Filmmakers Festival, Middlebury, VT
High Tatras Fit Festival, Prešovský kraj
North Dakota Human Rights Festival
Oregon Documentary Film Festival, Portland, OR
Atlanta Documentary Film Festival, Atlanta, GA
New Deli Film Festival, India
Collected Voices, Chicago, IL
Mumbai International Cult film Festival, India
Ethnografilm Festival, Paris, FR
Venice Shorts, CA, Award Winner
Eau Clair International Film Festival
Film In Focus, Best Mid Short Documentary
Rome Music Video Awards
Short Cut CineFest, Romania, Award Winner
Georgia Documentary Film festival
Esto Es Para Esto, Monterray City, MX
Munich Music Video Awards
Long Story Shorts, Bucharest
International Sound Future Awards Festival
Art Music Video, Germany
X World Film Festival, NV
FlickFair Film Festival
Inclusion: Research TV Archives for education in the Humanities and Film Arts
Upcoming Screening, Paris, France, April 2022