Belmont World Film Presents the Massachusetts Premiere of the Guatemalan film IXCANUL on November 10, at 7:30 PM

Belmont World Film presents the New England premiere of the Guatemalan film Ixcanul, directed by Jayro Bustamante on Thursday, November 10, at 7:30 PM at the Studio Cinema in Belmont (376 Trapelo Road). The film is Guatemala’s first-ever submission to the Academy Awards Best Foreign Film category, as well as the first film made in the Kaqchikel Mayan language. It also won the Berlin Film Festival’s Silver Bear award.

This mesmerizing fusion of fact and fable and dreamlike depiction of the daily lives of Kaqchikel-speaking Mayans living on a coffee plantation at the base of an active volcano chronicles a disappearing tradition and people with unblinking realism, while immersing the viewer in its characters' customs and beliefs.

“The fictional film focuses on the close relationship between a mother and her daughter in the Guatemalan Highlands, an area far removed from Western civilization,” say Ellen Gitelman, Belmont World Film’s Executive Director. “Yet it was inspired by the high number of children who were trafficked during and after the country’s armed conflict from 1960-1996.”

Tickets are $11 general admission and $9 students and seniors in advance at http://www.belmontworldfilm.org, and $12 and $10 at the door, which opens at 7:00 PM.

Belmont World Film is sponsored by Hammond Real Estate. For more information, visit www.belmontworldfilm.org, on Facebook, @BelmntWorldFilm, or call 617-484-3980.

Belmont World Film is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that promotes cross-cultural understanding through the powerful universal language of film. It presents award-winning feature narrative films, documentaries, animation, and shorts from around the world for both adults and children accompanied by topical speakers, cultural performances and ethnic cuisine.