Cenote

In Northern Yucatan, Mexico, natural sinkholes called ‘cenotes’ constituted the sole water source for Mayans not living near a river or lake. Some cenotes were used for ritual sacrifices, and the Mayans believed that these holy springs connected this world to the afterlife.

The past and present of those living around the cenotes coalesce in this mysterious place. Long-lost memories echo in hallucinatory turquoise underwater footage, an entrancing game of light and dark. Swimming in these sinkholes, director Oda Kaori encounters intriguing shapes and beams of light, the water heaves, drops fall like razor blades.

Oda, who studied under Béla Tarr in Sarajevo, previously made Aragane, which was shot in a Bosnian coal mine. For Cenote, she used Super-8 film and a bubbling water soundscape. A captivating form for her impressions of a place where, as a ghostly voiceover explains, nothing is forgotten.

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