La Camioneta

La Camioneta is a 2012 documentary film directed by Mark Kendall.[1][2][3] It is an experimental work that follows the transformative journey of a decommissioned American school bus through complex social, political, and economic landscapes.[4][5][6]

La Camioneta
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMark Kendall
Produced by
  • Rafael González
  • Mark Kendall
Music byT. Griffin
CinematographyMark Kendall
Edited byMark Kendall
Shannon Kennedy
Production
companies
  • Ek Balam Producciones
  • Follow Your Nose Films
Distributed byEmerging Pictures
Release date
  • March 10, 2012 (2012-03-10) (SXSW Film Festival)
  • May 31, 2013 (2013-05-31) (United States)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryGuatemala
United States
LanguageEnglish
Spanish

Production

Filming began at a school bus auction in Pennsylvania. Kendall met a buyer who had come to the United States as a transmigrant in order to purchase a decommissioned Blue Bird bus. They rode down together on the acquired bus through Mexico and into Guatemala, where it was resold at a junkyard and transformed into a vehicle for public transportation. Kendall explains that "it was equally as vital for me to be on the bus myself as it was to not know where it might end up, who might be its new owner, or what route, if any, it might end up joining."[7]

Release

La Camioneta premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival,[8] had its Guatemalan premiere at the 2012 Festival Ícaro,[9] and premiered internationally at the 2013 Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara, where it was nominated for Best Documentary and Best Director.[10][11] The film was released theatrically in the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala.

Reception

La Camioneta was well-received critically, with a 100% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes[12] and a score of 83 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 9 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[13]

Film critics have praised the film as "a brilliant microhistory of our globalized world"[14] often highlighting the surprising payoffs of its conceptual minimalism.[15]

Writing for Variety, Andrew Barker stated that "The film wrings an almost bizarre amount of political, humanistic and spiritual substance out of this limited frame. Kendall's eye for untold stories, as well as his instinct for catching evocatively framed images on the fly, mark him as a name to watch".[16] The film was selected as a New York Times Critics' Pick by Stephen Holden, who described the film as "an upbeat story of resilience, regeneration and artistic imagination."[17] In J. Hoberman's review for BLOUIN ARTINFO, he wrote that "La Camioneta is a poetic, even dreamy, film that ultimately conveys the mystical sense of a transmigrated (mechanical) soul."[18]

La Camioneta was named as one of IndieWire's “Top Docs of 2013” and one of Fandor's “Best Political Films of 2013.”[19]

At the IDA Documentary Awards, the film received the David L. Wolper Award.[20]

References
  1. "Mark Kendall". The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  2. Brennan, Matt (2013-05-29). "Now and Then: Remarkable New Doc 'La Camioneta,' a Masterful Miniature (TRAILER)". IndieWire. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  3. Johnson, Reed (11 June 2013). "In 'La Camioneta,' Mark Kendall traces school bus' strange trip".
  4. "The Magic School Bus: 'La Camioneta' Tracks a Transformative Journey". International Documentary Association. 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  5. La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus (2013), retrieved 2019-03-22
  6. Barker, Andrew (2012-11-10). "La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus". Variety. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  7. Holden, Stephen (2013-05-30). "'Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  8. "La Camioneta - The Journey of One American School Bus". SXSW Schedule 2012. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  9. "Icaro-Festival de Cine y Video en Centroamerica (2012)". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  10. "Guadalajara International Film Festival (2013)". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  11. La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus, retrieved 2019-03-22
  12. La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus (2013), retrieved 2019-08-05
  13. La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus, retrieved 2019-08-05
  14. Brennan, Matt (2013-05-29). "Now and Then: Remarkable New Documentary 'La Camioneta' Is a Masterful Miniature". IndieWire. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  15. "The Magic School Bus: 'La Camioneta' Tracks a Transformative Journey". International Documentary Association. 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  16. Barker, Andrew (2012-11-10). "La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus". Variety. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  17. Holden, Stephen (2013-05-30). "Retired in America, Reborn in Guatemala". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  18. "Texts-Reviews-Blouin-Artinfo — The Official Website of Mark Kendall". markkendall.net. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  19. Greene, Steve (2013-08-08). "The Top Documentaries on Criticwire's Best Indies of 2013 List". IndieWire. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  20. "'Searching for Sugar Man,' Herzog's 'On Death Row' Take Top Honors at 2012 IDA Documentary Awards". International Documentary Association. 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
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