The Hidden Face of Guatemala 
Hamburger Filmbüro
broadcast by Planet-France
45 min., FRG



"The Hidden Face of Guatemala" begins with the traditional ceremony held to mark the conquest and conversion of the native Guatemalan peoples by the Spaniards, and it continues with the syncretic ceremonies that are held in the villages of resistance in Icxan. Here, the refugees from the massacres of the 1980s have built up a concealed infrastructure in the jungle, just as their forefathers did centuries ago. After twelve years of flight and concealment, they are now risking a political offensive. The spokesman of the Maya priests, Nicolas Oxlajuj from Mayawil Qi, guides us through the film’s various episodes. The film ends with the excavation and reinterment of a mass grave in the mountains of Guatemala. But in spite of all the horrors, we can sense the strength of these descendents of the Maya, a strength that has sustained them through the years of terror until the present, when this culture can openly show its real face again.