One of the least known of Guzmán’s major works, The Southern Cross is a visually dazzling exploration of religion and history in Latin America that explores the intermingling of indigenous and foreign cultures that has been a constant since the arrival of the Conquistadors. Leaping from reenactments of the Spaniards first encounters with the Mayan to trace the patterns of intersecting pagan and Church traditions in present day Peru, Guatemala and throughout Latin America, Guzmán’s film also examines the ways that religion has defined politics and class structure throughout the region. Ultimately The Southern Cross is concerned with the paradoxical movement of history, which seems to be pulled backwards, anchored by the past, and at the same time propelled forward into the unknown. – HG