Directed by Patricio Henríquez Canada/ Mexico, 2002, video, 65 min. South Florida Premiere

You will certainly want to call your travel agent after watching this exuberant, lighthearted look at a Mexican anomaly: a town, located near the Guatemala border, in which gays and lesbians live in full social harmony with the rest of the population. How does such a place exist in a country not particularly known for openly embracing its GLBT citizens? Granted unlimited access to the town's diverse social strata, director Patricio Henríquez sorts fact from fiction in a way that is dynamic and consistently engaging. We learn about Juchitán's mythical origin: San Vicente Ferrer, the town's patron saint, was given a bag full of queers with the purpose of distributing them evenly throughout Latin America; guess where the bag fell by accident. We also take a peek inside the homes - and bedrooms - of this matriarchal society's most prominent "family" members, and discover that mate-swapping and polygamy are commonplace practices. The straight-but-not-narrow mayor praises the queer work ethic, since, in his own words, gays and lesbians "work as men and women." The struggle that many citizens experience reconciling their (predominantly Catholic) faith with their sexuality is also explored in depth. Ultimately, Henríquez offers a well-rounded exposé of a progressive community that never feels didactic or academic. On the contrary: Watching this joyous portrait of Mexico's oasis of tolerance is like attending a neighborhood party that you never want to leave.
In Spanish with English subtitles.

Total running time: 65 min.
$12 non-members / $10 members

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