In the feature-length, documentary film Jats’uts Meyah, Bacila Tzek Uc, the last midwife of a remote Maya community, shares ancestral knowledge of plant-based medicine and natural birth at the end of her life. In the Maya world, work is the most important cultural value, but a lack of paid jobs forces men to immigrate for work, while women stay in the pueblo and carefully tend the Maya way of life. Led by the midwife, the women believe that when she dies, they’ll all die right behind her.

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Activism through film

Through the power of story, our film conserves sustainable indigenous traditions, which are under the threat of extinction, including midwifery, milpa farming, and open-fire cooking in Yaxhachén, Yucatán. Using only voices from the community, the film embroiders a story which empowers, uplifts, and conserves Maya culture. Feminist at its core, the film seeks to represent indigenous women through film, hopefully inspiring a new generation of girls to be proud of their indigenous identities.