Centinelas del silencio

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Movie
Original title Centinelas del silencio
Country of production Mexico
original language Spanish
Publishing year 1971
length 19 minutes
Rod
Director Robert Amram
script Robert Amram
production Manuel Arango
music Mariano Moreno
camera Jim Freeman
Gustavo Olguin

Centinelas del silencio (dt. Guardians of Silence ) is a Mexican short documentary by Robert Amram from 1971. It is the only short film that was awarded two Oscars and therefore led to a change in the nomination regulations.

action

The film gives an insight into the culture and buildings of the Mexican natives. Witnesses to their culture are spread all over Mexico. This is followed by photos of Teotihuacán with its pyramids of the sun and moon and of Tulum , which was once described as a large city and of which only remnants have survived. The narrator notes that the indigenous people - Olmecs , Zapotecs , Toltecs , Chichimecs , Mayangna and Aztecs - had one thing in common: They believed in the sun as the center of the universe. This is followed by recordings of the hieroglyphs of Monte Albán , the oldest known text that was found on the American continent and whose deciphering has not yet been successful. Pictures of Chichén Itzá follow, as well as pictures of the local Cenote Sagrado, which is presented as a place of sacrifices for the water god. Pictures of Mitla with its Greek-style building ornaments are shown, as well as Palenque , a Mayan metropolis that makes it clear that the Maya were a highly civilized people. The question of why Palenque was abandoned would also help today's civilization to avoid mistakes. With Uxmal on Yucatán follows the last featured site of the Maya and the place that the Maya created after their escape from Palenque. Particular attention is paid to the Adivino Pyramid , which is described as the last great Mayan masterpiece, and to the Governor's Palace complex. The narrator concludes that research on the indigenous people of Mexico has only scratched the surface.

production

Centinelas del silencio was filmed on location at numerous archaeological sites in Mexico. In addition to ground shots, the film mainly contains aerial shots that were shot from a helicopter. Ricardo Montalbán is the narrator of the film . The film was shown at the Cannes International Film Festival in May 1971 .

Awards

At the 1971 Cannes International Film Festival, the film was screened in the competition for the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film . Centinelas del silencio won two Academy Awards in 1972 : in the category of Best Short Film and Best Documentary Short Film . It was the only short film in the history of the Oscars to win two awards. This led to a change in the regulations so that short fiction films have only been nominated in one of the two categories since 1972.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Shale: Academy Awards: An Ungar Reference Index . Ungar, New York 1982, p. 226.