Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent: José Lezama Lima, the hereafter thereafter

To make a film about a poet, it is necessary to move away from all cinematographic purpose, all technical language, all aestheticizing intention; we should just think like him, in terms of image and animism, of arrow and spell. The film in question will then be a tree and every facet of his work a branch, the trunk his life. Thus this incipient metaphor will evolve in the form of the film, the body of the image is henceforth encircled by the cortex of sound, whose independent relief segregates its own layers of meaning, the cavities through which the silence of an army of ants searches for its center.

Directed by Mauricio Hernández, Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent: José Lezama Lima, the hereafter thereafter leans on a strong ensemble — Alicia Alonso, Chinolope, Cesar Lopez — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 2011.