New York's Margaret Mead Festival, held annually at the American Museum of Natural History, aims to present 'cultural storytelling.' This year, its 38th, features more than 40 documentaries, including several Latin American selections. 

Bolivia's El Corral y el viento (The Corral and the Wind) is an account of the director's return to his father's home village in the Andes; Mexican documentary Elevador (Elevator), follows the ebb and flow of passengers in a Mexico City high-rise's elevator;  H2O MX examines Mexico City's water supplies; and Brazil's O mestre e o Divino (Master and Divino) follows a German missionary and a young indigenous man as they share their love for film.

Dois cineastas retratam a vida na aldeia e na missão de Sangradouro, Mato Grosso: Adalbert Heide, um excêntrico missionário Alemão, que logo depois do contato com os índios, em 1957 começa a filmar com sua câmera Super-8; e Divino Tserewahu, jovem cineasta Xavante, que produz filmes para a televisão e festivais de cinema desde os anos 90. Entre cumplicidade, competição, ironia e emoção, eles dão vida aos seus registros históricos, revelando bastidores bem peculiares da catequização indígena no Brasil... Two filmmakers portray life in the village and in the mission of Sangradouro, Mato Grosso: Adalberto Heide, an eccentric German missionary, that soon after the contact with the Indians, in 1957, starts to film with his Super-8 camera; and Divino Tserewahu, a young Xavante filmmaker, that produces films for television and cinema festivals since the 90's. Shifting between complicity, competition, irony and affect, they give life to their historical records, revealing peculiar backstages of indigenous catechization in Brazil…

Short films include  Flor de Toloache by Jenny Schweitzer; the US-Colombian short Santa Cruz del Islote by Luke Lorentzen; Gabriela Bortolamedi's Ni aquí, ni allá (Neither Here Nor There); and Living Quechua by Christine Mladic Janney.

New York: Oct. 23 - 26. More information here.