Coming to VOD today, Friday, February 26: KINGS OF NOWHERE
Betzabé García’s exploration of a vanishing village had its premiere at Ambulante last year. It went on to win awards at SXSW, Full Frame, Zurich, and Morelia, and to screen at Doc Fortnight, Guadalajara, Sheffield, Camden, Warsaw, Docs DF, and Lima, among others. FilmBuff now releases the doc on various VOD platforms.
San Marcos was once full of people. Now, for half the year, the small Mexican town is full of water, the result of a nearby dam project. García’s lyrical film captures a place that is slowly disappearing, and its seven remaining inhabitants who nevertheless cling to it. Fearful of surrounding cartel violence, and oscillating between perseverance and acceptance, they tend to their ghost town, fighting the encroachment of nature, while contemplating the impossibility of leaving. García crafts a haunting, thoughtful, and at times quietly revelatory observational portrait of a village that no longer exists.
what (not) to doc 