Descending Into Motion

This screening explores indigenous thought and cosmovisions through innovative short film animations.

Part of Cinefilmu’s annual program Midwest Movements where we invite midwest curators and organizations, this year invites Génesis Mancheren Ab'äj, currently rooted in Detroit and a member of Tierra Narrative, a film and literary production house dedicated to counternarratives emerging from the Central American isthmus and its diaspora.

This program was originally meant to premiere at the Queens Museum in New York City. Due to the museum's complicity with the genocide in Palestine, Génesis and Tierra Narrative, in collaboration with the filmmakers, pulled the program.

Génesis Mancheren Ab'äj (they/them) is a Queer, non-binary Maya Kaqchikel actor, filmmaker, and producer, born and raised in New York City. As a screenwriter and director, they are interested in exploring Kaqchikel contemporary stories that include the supernatural, the surreal and the absurd. Génesis filmed their first short film called Terrible Angel in 2022, in which a young woman is reunited with one of her ancestors that guides her into the afterlife through a ritual of care. Terrible Angel is one of five short films within an anthology created by Tierra Narrative (TN), an independent production house that focuses on Central American cinema and literature through programming and production, of which they are co-founder. They currently live in Detroit, MI.