Los herederos (The Inheritors)

A film by Eugenio Polgovsky

2008, Mexico, Documentary

90 min. DVCam, Color

In Spanish with English subtitles

March 30, 7 PM – FREE!

Jones Auditorium at the Ragsdsale Center, St. Edwards University

3001 South Congress Avenue (Map)

Click here for Parking Directions. Open Parking begins at 6:45, with parking open anywhare except for red colored areas.

Presented by the Kozmetsky Center of Excellence in Global Finance at St. Edwards University and Cine Las Americas

This film is part of the Flaherty on the Road Program, presented by the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar

The Mexican child laborers in Los Herederos have inherited from their elders various skills and techniques —herding, harvesting, weaving, brickmaking— as well as a life of toil and hardship, part of what Polgovsky calls “a cycle of inherited poverty.” Polgovsky spent years traveling to some of the poorest parts of the country, in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Veracruz, and shows the arduous work that consumes these children’s lives and, often, the playfulness with which they go about it. A quietly angry film but also one that’s full of life, with a kineticism that matches the nimbleness of its young subjects, Los Herederos reverberates with the twin emotions Polgovsky says he experienced upon encountering these children at work: “rage and awe.”

Los niños trabajadores de México han heredado diversas técnicas y habilidades de sus mayores –el pastoreo, la siembra, el tejido y la albañilería–así como una vida de trabajo y dificultades; parte de lo que Polgovsky llama "el ciclo de pobreza heredada". Polgovsky pasó años de viaje por algunas de las áreas más pobres del país, en los estados de Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla y Veracruz, y muestra el arduo trabajo que consume la vida de éstos niños y, a menudo, el todo de juego que ellos adoptan hacia el trabajo. La película muestra una inconformidad silenciosa pero llena de vida, con una energía que se iguala a la agilidad de sus jóvenes personajes. LOS HEREDEROS hace eco de las emociones gemelas que Polgovsky experimentó durante su encuentro con éstos niños trabajadores: "rabia y admiración".

About Eugenio Polgovsky

Eugenio Polgovsky (Mexico City, 1977) studied film directing and cinematography at the CCC Film School. His first documentary, Tropic of Cancer, screened at numerous film festivals around the world including Cannes and Sundance.  In 2004, Polgovsky received the National Youth Award in Mexico. He has worked as a cinematographer in a number of documentary, narrative feature, and visual arts projects. In 2008, he directed, photographed and edited Los Herederos (The Inheritors), a documentary about the children who work in the Mexican countryside. The film premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival and was the first documentary invited to participate in the competition section Generation Kplus at the Berlin Film Festival. Polgovsky is currently working on a documentary about children suffering from parasitic infections in Africa, which will be part of a campaign to combat this widespread health problem.

Credits

Producer/cinematography/editor: Eugenio Polgovsky

Music: Banda Mixe de Oaxaca