This article by Jorge Caballero originally appeared in the October 3, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.
The documentary Lachatao, directed by Natalia Bruschtein, immerses us in the life of a community in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, through the eyes of children. Lachatao is a town of no more than 200 inhabitants, where adults dedicate themselves to passing on knowledge, culture, identity, and love for the land to the children. In this way, they create the roots that will guarantee the survival of the community, which faces the risk of disappearing if new generations choose to seek a “better place.”
In an interview, the director explains how she came across the Oaxacan community: “It all happened by chance, like all the projects that have interested me. One of my neighbors is from the community of Lachatao. She found out I made documentaries and told me she wanted a video about the school in that community. As soon as I arrived, I immediately fell in love with the project.”
Her mind swept up with the significance of the community, Brushtein noted: “In addition to the school they founded in the town, I was interested in the project they built throughout Lachatao, a town struggling to maintain its identity so as not to disappear, because just a few years ago there were 1,200 inhabitants and now there are only a mere 200. They also do so with self-criticism about what they need, and of course, they started from the time they didn’t have a secondary school, only primary school, and then they built an education system that encompassed both primary and secondary school so that the children wouldn’t have to go to other towns to take secondary school classes and continue their studies, causing the town to disappear.”
With this idea of belonging, “so that children stay in the community longer and become rooted in the town,” that was what sparked in Brushtein’s mind: “Another thing that caught my attention was the quality of life, changing ideas and understandings of what it is. One of the women who appears in the documentary told me she had a lot of time. When in reality, those of us who live in the city always say we don’t have time, which is true.”
When she analyzed the elements that make up the community, using the example of education, Natalia Brushtein realized that she was interested in telling the story: “through the children, because the idea that adults have is one thing, and what the children face is radically different. Although I also realized that I didn’t just have to stay within the school project because what they were doing in Lachatao was bigger, in the community, which was broader and more comprehensive, because the adults were also involved in other tasks like focusing on ensuring that trees weren’t cut down and other issues, but never losing sight of the children’s vision.”
She commented that she had already shown the documentary to the participants: “When Leslie and Eva, who were the first to see themselves in it, were dying of laughter because they didn’t remember anything, and it hadn’t been that long. I started directing it in 2018, and the pandemic hit, and the children were very young, and one of the important things is that they’re barely aware of the camera since they’re natural actors. Although the work of cinematographer Miguel Tovar was decisive, because he had a formidable way of approaching the children. And they really liked other scenes because they felt there was respect in filming the community, that Lachatao had been represented, that all the problems were discussed, and that the town is disappearing and the children need to stay.”
“The children realize many things, such as that most of the residents of Lachatao are migrants, and also, through personal experience, that the American dream can be a nightmare and that what they have in their town is wonderful.”
The filmmaker noted that “the goal with the children has worked, because they recognize that space as their own and don’t even want to go to the city of Oaxaca because ‘it’s hot, there’s a lot of noise, and people are in a hurry,’ they say. In the documentary, there’s also a respect for the way they manage time, or at least that’s what I tried to maintain in the film.”
While mentioning plans for the screening of Lachatao, Brushtein wove his response into other topics, such as inspiration for other communities: “We’re starting the theatrical release and we hope it has a big following, although I’m aware that this type of work, which has a particular rhythm, doesn’t reach everyone. In Oaxaca, we screened it in some communities; the reception was very nice and interesting because the communities felt reflected in it and realized there are other ways to organize themselves. I’d like to think that the film will be more popular and that when the series ends, it will be theirs.”
Finally, the director said, “Not only in Oaxaca but throughout the country, many communities face similar problems like migration and education. The idea was for the documentary to reflect other realities: how to find, how to teach, and how to teach ourselves to learn, to have what we have and truly live with what we have. It’s not an economic issue; rather, if there are no schools, creating them. Knowing that if you have 10,000 hectares of forest, it will give you absolutely everything you need, then you have to take care of it and respect it.”
Lachatao premieres October 9 in the Mexico’s cultural theater circuit, including national film libraries.
Documentary Lachatao Shows Oaxacan Pueblo Struggling to Not Disappear
October 3, 2025October 3, 2025
Filmmaker Natalia Bruschtein’s documentary about the fears and dreams of the children of this small town in the mountains of Oaxaca.
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