La Laguna

Documentary Film (40min)
Project Overview
Set within the rainforests of southern Mexico, La Laguna uses observational documentary footage to tell the story of a Mayan boy's journey from childhood to adolescence.

While Yu'uk and his younger brother José enjoy uncommon freedom in the jungle, their family's problems are mounting. Family members are getting ill. Their father is too old to work. When heavy rains wipe out the family's crops, Yu'uk realizes that leaving the village - and his beloved younger brother - may be his family's only hope.
My Contributions
Working on spec, I cut the first assembly, which was the director's test to see whether or not his footage could in fact be turned into a film. That assembly proved to the director (and funders) that we did in fact have a compelling story, and it earned me the job of editing the rest of the film.

I edited every scene from start to finish, including selects, rough cut, and fine cut, incorporating feedback from the director and consulting editor.

I managed the entire post-production workflow, including round-tripping the film to sound and color and delivering the film to festivals.
Watch the trailer

Selected Awards

Best Documentary Short Cinema Eye Honors
Panavision Best North American Short Palm Springs Shortfest
Best Documentary Short Woodstock Film Festival
Youth Jury Award Aspen Shortsfest
Special Jury Mention Aspen Shortfest
Jury Honorable Mention HotDocs Canadian International Film Festival
Jury Honorable Mention DOXA Documentary Film Festival
Best Documentary Short Nevada City Film Festival
Best of the Fest Nevada City Film Festival

Selected Screenings

Aspen Shortfest (Aspen, CO)
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (Durham, NC)
HotDocs Canadian International Documentary Festival (Toronto)
DOXA Documentary Film Festival (Vancouver)
Palm Springs International Shortfest (Palm Springs, CA)
Guanajuato International Film Festival (San Miguel de Allende & Guanajuato, MX)
Nevada City Film Festival (Nevada City, NV)
Camden International Film Festival (Camden, ME)
Documenta Qro (Querétaro, Mexico)
Hamptons International Film Festival (Hamptons, NY)
Woodstock International Film Festival (Woodstock, NY)
DOCS MX (Mexico City, MX)
DOC NYC (New York City, NY)
Environmental Film Festival Australia (Australia)
Family Film Festival (Portugal)
Olympia International Film Festival (Greece)
San Cristobal International Film Festival (Mexico)
Environmental Film Festival (D.C)
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Missoula, MT)
Sebastopol Film Festival (Sebastopol, CA)
Cinema Planeta 2017 Film Festival (Cuernavaca, Morelos)
Int'l Film Festival for Children & Youth Eye on Film (Slovenia)
aluCINE Latin Film & Media Arts Festival (Toronto)
DocsPuebla (Mexico)
Rooftop Films Summer Series (NYC)
Borneo Eco Film Festival (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah)
Inconvenient Films Festival (Lithuania, Vilnius)
KinderDocs (Greece)