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The sixth annual “Raza Cósmica” film festival kicks off this week in San Antonio to highlight sci-fi and speculative films made by Latinx and BIPOC filmmakers.
The series begins with a screening of “Daughters of the Forest,” an immersive documentary that examines the deep ancestral and cultural ties between humans and mushrooms.
The film will be screened Oct. 8 at Arthouse at Blue Star and will feature a post-screening Q&A.
TPR’s Marian Navarro spoke with the film’s director, Otilia Portillo Padua, and with Manuel Solis, the founder of MonteVideo and programmer of Raza Cósmica.
Solis explained the purpose behind the festival, which will take place Oct. 8-10 at Arthouse at Blue Star and Central Library downtown.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
SOLIS: Raza Cósmica is a constellation of Latinx sci-fi cinema, and it is part of Montevideo's ongoing efforts to provide independent films to underserved communities here in San Antonio. One of the reasons that we chose science fiction is that in a present reality that often resembles science fiction, this genre allows filmmakers to imagine new worlds and possible futures where Latino stories are centered. We're really excited to be back for our sixth edition and be able to showcase an amazing film called “Daughters of the Forest” by Otilia Ortillo Padua.
NAVARRO: And Otilia, turning to you. Can you describe what the film is about?
PORTILLO PADUA: The documentary follows the stories of two indigenous mycologists. Mycologists are people who study mushrooms from a scientific perspective. So, it follows two mycologists, one from Mexico State and the other one from Oaxaca, and it follows their trajectories. You can see how mushrooms have shaped, not only the worlds they live in, but their futures and their present. And at the same time, the film also has this non-human perspective — which is kind of the sci-fi element of the movie — which is the perspective of fungi and the perspective of mycelium, which is the body of fungi which grows underneath the earth.
NAVARRO: And something that I thought was so unique about the film is exactly like you said. You get the perspective of the humans who study the mushrooms, but also the voice of the mushrooms themselves. You really explore ancient traditions and how they tie into modern science and the fight to preserve those traditions. What got you interested in wanting to explore this topic and why did you decide to incorporate the voice of the mushrooms in the documentary itself?
PORTILLO PADUA: I think a very important thing for us was to decentralize the human perspective, and that sounds like a contradiction because how can you make art, human-made art, and then decentralize the human perspective? But I think for us it was important to use the tools of cinema, the subjective tools of cinema, in order to create other points of view.
In this sense, perhaps speculative documentary is much more of an accurate term than sci-fi because we speculate on what this perspective of the non-human would be like. But it was very important that the weight of this presence, the presence of the fungi, was as equivalent and as important as the point of view of people, because they were all, in a way, part of this bigger ecosystem.
NAVARRO: Otilia, “Daughters of the Forest,” recently screened at South by Southwest. Now, obviously, it's going to make its San Antonio debut as part of Raza Cósmica, and it's one of several films that emphasize the Latino perspective here. Why do you think that it's important to showcase and be part of these spaces that are made for Latino filmmakers?
PORTILLO PADUA: Well, I first of all want to commend the whole concept of this festival, which is very, very unique, and this is all sci-fi Latinx, because normally, when we create stories from the global South, we get this label of magical realism. I mean, at times for a while it was a very interesting concept, but right now I think it's overused; and sometimes it's used to label everything that comes out of Latin America.
When we started making this film, we were very adamant on saying we're making a magical realist movie because nothing in the movie that you see is magical. We think it's enhanced. We think that you see things that are invisible, and it's another perspective. So, I think for one, like having Latinx sci-fi is a very bold idea, and I think there's a lot of very, very interesting sci-fi that comes from a very different perspective that comes from Latin America.
NAVARRO: That's an example of why Raza Cósmica is so unique because it helps highlight these films that perhaps you turn on its head what you think sci-fi might be. Manuel, turning back to you, what struck you about “Daughters of the Forest" when you first saw it, and what made you want to incorporate it as part of this newest edition of Raza Cósmica?
SOLIS: Just the fact that it was a really strong woman-centered documentary. You have two female protagonists, you have a woman director who has a collaborative process, where she's collaborating with the subjects, she's collaborating with the crew.
Outside of that, it's just a very beautiful film, and I think it speaks a lot to access, as well. I love the focus on generational knowledge, but then there's also the aspect of academia and modern science and how accessible those spaces are to our community and how we can work and how we can thrive to push those doors open and have access to those spaces.
NAVARRO: And Manuel, besides “Daughters of the Forest,” that is going to premiere on the first day at Raza Cósmica, tell me a little bit about some of the other films. What will the schedule look like for Raza Cósmica? When and where can people expect to see this?
SOLIS: Yes, so the festival opens on Thursday, Oct. 8, and that's going to be the San Antonio premiere of “Daughters of the Forest.” We're really excited that one of the writers who worked on the film, Lacy Pipkin, will be in attendance for the screening.
The festival continues on Friday, Oct. 9, with a stellar collection of short films from Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. that explore memory, community and transformation. As part of that program, we're screening the short, “Mission: El Desierto” by San Antonio artist Tomás Villalobos Moreno.
Friday night, we'll also be hosting the Texas premiere of “Frío Metal,” that's "Cold Metal" by Clemente Castor. It tells the story of two young brothers on the outskirts of Mexico City, where one of them learns how to enter other people's bodies through subterranean caverns.
The festival closes out on Saturday, Oct. 10, with "Chicanx vs. Aliens," which includes a live podcast by Joaquin Muerte with San Antonio filmmakers Keanu Cordero and Teresa Garza, followed by a selection of short films. If anyone is interested in learning more info about the festival and the films, you can visit Montevideo210.org, and you can also reserve tickets there.
