Young film-making duo Israel Cardenas and Laura Guzman are typical of a new generation of Latin American film-makers in their desire to portray the continent without resorting to stereotypes. Their debut feature, Cochochi, explores the life and culture of an indigenous Mexican tribe, the Tarahumaras, through two young brothers' search for a missing horse. It screened in Venice this week as part of the Orrizonti section and is playing in Toronto's Discovery sidebar.

The film was inspired by two boys, 14-year-old Evaristo and 13-year-old Tony, who play the lead roles in the film. The boys live in San Ignacio de Avareko (Chihuahua), a town with more than 2,000 Tarahumaras in northwest Mexico.

"We arrived at the mountains of the Tarahumara Sierra after working as assistants on a film in the city of Chihuahua," Guzman recalls. "We wanted to relax. But then we met Evaristo and Tony. They were very curious about the camera and us. So we thought we had to come back to shoot. We didn't know exactly if it was going to be a short film, a documentary or a feature film."

It took the film-makers a year to prepare Cochochi (which means 'place of pines'), including six months living with the Tarahumaras in order to gain their trust. The cast is composed of non-professional actors who worked without a script, talking in their Raramuri dialect. Instead, the camera followed the actors, who reacted to instructions from Guzman and Cardenas.

"The most incredible thing was the development of Evaristo and Tony during the shooting," says Guzman. "We never knew if they were aware or not of the camera. They never even looked at it. The most difficult thing was shooting on a conventional schedule. It took us a while to find the right rhythm of shooting. It was our first feature film and the crew was very young. We were almost all under 28 years old."

The $450,000 production is a collaboration between Canana, the Mexican production company founded by actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna and producer Pablo Cruz, and Donald Ranvaud's UK-based Buena Onda. Financing for the project came from Los Angeles-based Alcove Entertainment, Canada World Cinema Project and the Mexican Film Institute (Imcine).

Guzman, who is from the Dominican Republic but has lived in Mexico since 2004, and Cardenas are co-credited as directors, writers and directors of photography. The pair, who are also married, say the partnership worked very well.

"During the shoot it was very convenient to be two - a woman and a man," Cardenas explains. "Laura was essential to direct the women and the children. But when they didn't respect her anymore, then it was my turn, and Laura's to go behind the camera."

Laura Guzman and Israel Cardenas' Cultural Life
Books: Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian.
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