This October, an IC lecture explored justice and generational trauma through the lens of the folktale “La Llorona.”
“Monsters Among Us: Jayro Bustamante’s 2019 Horror Film” by Doug Weatherford
As a genre, horror may look like cheap thrills on the surface. Take a deeper dive, though, and you’ll find stories that critically explore everything from generational trauma to power dynamics and imbalances within families. At his International Cinema lecture on October 30, 2025, Professor Doug Weatherford (Latin American Film) discussed how Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona explores the Indigenous trauma of one horrific chapter in Guatemala’s 36-year civil war.
The story of “La Llorona” (the Wailing Woman) originates from Central America. While versions of the story vary between regions, the folktale has a few core tenets: A woman who lost her children to drowning (perhaps by drowning them herself) now wanders near bodies of water as a vengeful ghost, mourning them with loud wailing.
While the story has been retold in dozens of variations to explore a variety of themes, Bustamante’s film uses the story to examine themes of justice, retribution, and generational trauma. The film tells the story of Enrique Monteverde (a former Guatemalan dictator convicted of orchestrating a genocide of Native Mayans) and his family during Montverde’s house arrest. When his conviction is overturned by the high court, the ghost La Llorona (an Indigenous woman who lost her children and her own life to Monteverde’s genocide) seeks justice and infiltrates his house to pay him back in kind.
Weatherford explained that the plot of the film—while fictional—is a direct exploration of Guatemalan politics. Monteverde’s character is based on the general José Efraín Ríos Montt, a brutal dictator who came to power for a brief time in the 1980s and did, in fact, commit genocide against Indigenous Mayans. Like Monteverde, Ríos Montt’s conviction was also overturned. Even though his rule is considered one of the bloodiest periods of the Guatemalan civil war, Ríos Montt never served a day in prison for his crimes.
This film wants to connect to national history, national tragedy, [and] national trauma.
“This film, in many respects, is a response to him,” Weatherford said, explaining that the movie seeks to bring a sense of justice to a situation that never got the resolution that the Guatemalan people wanted. “When you watch this movie, you’re watching a movie that deals with the political situation in Guatemala and, more broadly, in Latin America because this film wants to connect to national history, national tragedy, [and] national trauma.”
The film tackles these topics in a number of ways, from the subtle to the obvious, through methods like shot framing and even its choice of wallpaper patterns. Weatherford invited audiences to especially consider the separation between male and female spaces in the film, since the film deals with an Indigenous woman’s trauma. “You’re going to notice that there’s a very distinct male space and a very distinct female space,” he said. “This is a film about women, about women coming together, and about women seeing what they need to see to know the story of what’s happened.”
As he finished his lecture, Weatherford said that one of the most important parts of the film, to him, is how it centers on Indigenous language and experiences. “You’re seeing a film that is partly in Spanish, partly in Mayan language,” he said. “It’s not necessarily a happy film. The conclusion of the film is somewhat strong, but I think that it is an experience to be celebrated.”
Below is a selection of the other films shown during October.
Dahomey (2024)
“What was looted more than a century ago is the people’s soul.”
In 2021, 26 royal treasures, looted from the African kingdom of Dahomey (now the modern-day Republic of Benin), were returned from the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris to their original home country. This documentary by director Mati Diop combines fact and fiction to capture the treasures’ return through both the eyes of the 26th artifact—a statue of a former king—and a discussion about repatriation between students at the University of Abomey-Calavi. A thought-provoking piece that takes a critical look at colonialism, reparation, and the effects of repatriation on culture.
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Bye Bye Tiberias (2023)
“I wonder who you’d become if you stayed.”
Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass left her childhood village of Deir Hanna to pursue acting when she was young, leaving behind her mother, grandmother, and sisters. In this deeply personal documentary, Abbass and her daughter, the filmmaker Lina Soualem, return to Deir Hanna to reconnect with family and explore its influence on Abbass’s life. A stunning film about cultural heritage, disconnection from your roots, and the implications of one path chosen over another.
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How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024)
“You’re also sowing seeds in hopes of reaping them, right?”
When university dropout M sees his cousin inherit their rich uncle’s house, M realizes there might actually be some benefit to getting to know the elderly. Hopeful that he too can acquire a house from a rich relative, he begins a campaign to become his grandmother’s favorite grandchild—but of course, she knows exactly what he’s up to. A heartwarming story about learning what really matters in life and relationships.
See what movies and films are showing next at the International Cinema’s website here.