Interview with Sky Richards, director of The Train and the Peninsula
Free Online Screening! You’ll find a link to watch the complete documentary below 👇🏼
When the construction of Mexico’s controversial Megaproject known as the ‘Mayan Train’ begins to snake its way through the heart of the Mayan territory, we are taken on a journey across the Yucatan Peninsula into the crevasses of its complex history and current inhabitants. Hear the voices of both sides, the money moguls and the brave modern Maya who are standing up and challenging this model of progress, asserting its threat to human sovereignty, not only in the region, but the world.
Intro
Sky Richards is a wild, free artist, and environmentalist, raised in a solar-energy home built by his father's hands from the soil it stands on. His hometown, San Miguel de Allende, is the birthplace of Mexico’s revolution, and Sky’s spirit resembles exactly that—a bright light that illuminates our freedom and our responsibilities to respond to the growing environmental crisis.
We all need a compelling spark of liberation now and then. Before I met Sky, I was blissfully unaware of climate change and environmental devastation. Since waking up, I find myself hungry and eager to learn about what's happening with systemic regeneration and how I, as a regular person, can make an impact.
It was just before winter's equinox that I poured Sky a glass of red wine, and asked him every question I could think of regarding climate change. That conversation redirected my life. Now, years later, I am grateful to have another opportunity to dive into this eclectic mind and learn more about the documentary he and Andreas Kruger recently released, "The Train and the Peninsula."
Marly:
Sky, let’s just start with your name. It’s not everyday we meet a person named after the Sky. Is this your birth name, and do you think it’s had an impact on your personality? If so, has this influenced your passion towards environmental regeneration and activism?
Sky:
I think all things have an effect, so I suppose yes. I used to feel my name separated me from the world or at least the ´mainstream´ version of it… Not in a good way, especially through elementary school. It wasn't until I realized the mainstream wasn't as cool as I wished it to be, that I began to be comfortable with my name.
Marly:
What inspired you and Andreas Kruger to create "The Train and the Peninsula"? Can you share the vision and purpose behind this documentary?
Sky:
This film sparks from a heated conversation I had with Andreas, a friend and now co-director, about what human development is socially defined by, versus what we personally thought it should be defined by. We spoke about territory specific to the people who inhabit it, and how by development being compounded into a single idea, it is bound to fail for it stops considering its immediate environment. When Andreas first argued the transformative implications of a multi-billion dollar mayan train being built in the Yucatan Peninsula resulting in what some are calling a modern ethnocide… I disagreed from a climate priority viewpoint of development. I had just finished a long investigation into the American psychology of climate change and was hungry to start promoting new climate solutions. Simply put, I had an affinity for the train; seeing trains as a definitive part of a sustainable future. To settle this argument, we mapped the route the rails would be built upon and explored with an open heart, expecting only to take a few images and writings to document the journey. The investigation expanded into 3 years of making this feature film, touching on something much more profound than simply a sustainable solution or an economic development.
The ´purpose´ of this documentary emerged slowly, as a tool of reflection on neo-colonialism, indigenous wisdom and the cultural effects of imposed industrialization. Also attention is brought to a common gap in the peninsula´s history which plays a key role in the subconscious patterns and identities in the region.
Marly:
Can you recall a specific moment during the filming of this project that deeply affected you or changed your perspective on the issues explored?
Sky:
To answer this question honestly, I don't think a singular moment can be credited to changing my perspective entirely. I arrived like a tourist to the area, with nothing to prove, my perspective was only contaminated by spatial and cultural ignorance. The balance that specifically the Mayan and rural Mexican population have with their territory is what began to chip away at any rationality I had formed about sustainable progress. This transformation from head to heart was constantly taking place in me, as the months passed and as the many, many voices blended, a grueling, almost hypnotic adaptation unfolded. Living their lifestyle is the only thing that began to slow down time. I began to see the world as the calcareous flat land once ruled by the Mayan empires, whose successors wake up to the same penetrating tropical sun and peninsular territory everyday and understand its limits better than any outsider scientist can through numbers and data.
Marly:
The documentary aims to give voice to the heirs of the Mayan legacy. How did you establish a connection with the inhabitants of the Yucatan Peninsula, and what stories touched you the most during your interactions with them?
Sky:
We interviewed over 100 people for this film, some identifying as Mestizo Mexicans, others Mayans. But no matter how you look at it, the indigenous roots of turtle island are mainly what inhabit the Yucatan peninsula. So when we followed the ghostly line that now encircles the peninsula, we simply began to speak to people in a very casual manner… The carpenter, the Ejidatario, the hotel owner, the geographer, the beekeeper, the activist, the grandmother… These are the conversations you will find in the film, all speaking to one another and to us, the audience.
The Mayan legacy in the interior of the peninsula is so palpable that as an outsider one may feel ostracized by it at first. Pride, language and identity have been horribly repressed systematically, but the cosmology bleeds through the generationally influenced lifestyles. I can recall one day walking along the tracks and Andreas struck up a conversation with a motorcycle mechanic named Martin. Martin claimed to have ´Blue blood´ and be a direct descendant of Cecilio Chi, a Mayan revolutionary leader in the 50 year Mayan uprising that ended in 1901. (Note how close that date is, only four generations from a total Mayan governance of south-east Mexico). Martin invited us into his mind, where he spends his time dissecting biology, astrology, atomic theory literature, highlighting that whoever controls the atom, controls the world. Martin has a vision of another Mayan uprising, where the Mayan minds bring meaning from chaos and balance back to nature. This touched me on a revolutionary level - his eyes were bright with a vision of a new world integrating ancient principles.This is by no means a majority, but a slice of the maya left in this place.
Marly:
"The Train and the Peninsula" sheds light on the environmental and social consequences of the imposed development model. Can you share some powerful stories or reflections from the inhabitants that highlight these consequences?
Sky:
There is a complex variability to the inhabitants of the peninsula, as is everywhere that has been economically globalized, but I will speak in the name of the mindset of people who originate from these territories and who wish to live autonomously and independently from neo-liberal visions of success… The consequence is the deterioration of a way of life and a language - unified as a cosmology or as many say the word, culture.
This injustice is done by elevating the tourist to the highest social echelon, consecrating local survival within the hands of those who come to visit. When tourists come to the so-called ´Mayan Riviera´, no living mayan is acknowledged, and most are seeking the awe of the ancient mayan empires, the white beaches and the hauntingly majestic cenotes. This search and request is paid for plentifully, and undoubtedly that resource trickles into society. The issue lies in the reality that any current Mayan influence or identity is swept to the outskirts of the megacities, in what become slums inhabited by underpaid servants for the tourism industry. As this industry grows with the propulsion of multi billion dollar infrastructure projects, like the Mayan train. These investments will attract the western ideology that comes with having and endlessly wanting more money. Yet for the locals, with wages so low, they are ever so often unable to build savings of any kind. These slave wages only confined them to the urbanization of an intangible promised prosperity. Often the move to the cities requires selling the only things that kept them autonomous and independent, their very territory, which now becomes a foreigners `investment.´ This corporate dream is very convenient for the outsider, who can continue to perpetuate the ecological and sociological collapse that occurs when one uses external economies to produce profit and comfort, usually by exploiting others. All this just leads back to complacency and westernized exceptionalism which is fundamentally destroying our delicate climate and human equality.
Marly:
As a director, what were some of the challenges you faced while documenting the ideological and territorial struggles in the region? How did you navigate the complexities of the narrative?
Sky:
As an outsider myself the challenge was always to better understand the panorama. I read back at journals from early in the filming process and laughed at the simplicity I imposed on hugely complex ideas at first. The most complex of these ideas being representing the ´Modern Maya´… we always tripped over this concept, for these definitions step on the toes of their very meaning. It was very important that we didn't impose our personal ideas on this idea of indigenous identity, and so the narrative had to come from within. I´m in no position to open the wound of a 500 year fight for indigenous sovereignty, and I also do not speak maya, so the poetic complexities of identity were often over my head. We navigated these subtleties of cultural clashes by using images instead of the Spanish language whenever posible, to bring back some of the poetic justice that gets lost in definitions. Examples are the juxtaposition of a woman rolling dough, cuts into cement folding over itself to make a sidewalk…. The textures of development that separate us from nature… Hurried ants returning home before a rain, juxtaposed with the hurried traffic of a downtown Cancun boulevard. My favorite metaphor is the cut between two young men that are both in the exact same position; one digging up a potato from his field, the other digging in a sunbrella on the beach, sowing his seed for the daily tourists.
I will briefly say that the greatest challenge in narrative, above all else, was to create a film that separated the train itself from what the train will attract. The villain is not a hunk of metal but the ideologies it tends to carry in its train cars, and the land nearby it. We were confronting the fallacy that imposed truth that industrialization always means a `better life.´
Marly:
What do you hope the audience takes away from this documentary? Are there specific changes or awareness that you aim to provoke through your storytelling?
Sky:
I can only hope that the film opens mental caverns and portals that create personal development and direct action. These realizations hopefully will range from the people on the peninsula, to the visitor, to the Mexican entrepreneurs seeking opportunity in the region… Foremost, we must realize that the Mayan identity and social enterprises are the only resistance in place, so this film is to empower them first. Many have decided (some may say disillusioned) that corporate interest is the way to success and re-identify themselves within neoliberalism, mostly to simply fit into the larger mainstream Mexican culture. As for the tourist´s insight, most of whom are coming from this capitalist mainstream culture, we hope to share some of the more subtle realities that encompass a ´getaway vacation´ … We hope that one day there is nothing to ´getaway´ from, but for now, it's important to understand that when arriving to the Yucatan Peninsula, one is entering a profound social and cultural environment that is far deeper than seaside sunsets and cheap beer. We hope this film can help spell out some of these intricacies which are far more interesting than an escape, but a chance to explore a new side of ourselves, evolving western perspective away from individuality.
Marly:
Now that the documentary is complete, what are your plans for its release, and what impact do you hope it will have?
Sky:
The film has now been screened at around 17 film festivals, in I think 7 countries. We´ve won the prizes of best international doc, best national doc, best editing and special mention along the way but we have a long way to go before anyone even hears about this film. On the 16th of December of 2023, the so-called Mayan Train will be inaugurated by the president in Merida, Yucatan. We'll be piggybacking on the media train of this historic moment, with a free screening of the film online for 5 days, in person and hopefully eventually screening on public TV…. From there we hope a distributor will help streamline further buzz around the film. The impact these screenings make is up to the viewers and the questions the film brings up in themselves.
Marly:
How can people support your mission and contribute to positive change?
Sky:
As a human, I believe this `positive´ thing wants to happen in all of us. A flowering awareness and acceptance of inner and external destruction being caused by our socially accepted patterns is in plain sight. This sensitivity is thus invited into your daily discourse, your habits and your psyche about what it means to be fulfilled, and why it is we are still trying to getaway and escape from ourselves, with this concept of vacation, fundamentally. Let us find new ways to get into ourselves and our communities. I hope the messages in this film help the peninsula and the world move in that direction.
Marly:
As a filmmaker, how has creating "The Train and the Peninsula" influenced your own perspectives, both professionally and personally? Have there been unexpected lessons or realizations during this directorial debut?
Sky:
Making a feature film is not cake. Collaborating in creative leadership is not cake either. But the incessant, almost invincible drive of Andreas Kruger (Co-Director) and Erika Archaga (Producer) is what kept the heart of this project pumping in front of all obstacles, and now beating vigorously with a will for its own life… to be born almost like a conscious being.
Marly:
If there's one thing you'd like viewers to do after watching the documentary, what would it be? How can individuals, communities, or organizations actively contribute to the causes highlighted in your film?
Sky:
As we know, money still runs the world, and we´re struggling to complete the distribution fees, and music right fees asked of us to ensure it has a long term impact campaign. Since the people most affected by these issues often have the least resources, it's important the film is not only accessible but promoted to them on a personal and community level. With these capital threats encroaching steadily, this issue is time sensitive. All donations go directly to this distribution model of the film, with hopes of eventually monetizing the film through global academic markets, concentrating on social science and sustainable development curricula. But as for now, a small amount of money can go a long way, empowering the people of the peninsula to expose of the topic, joining their community to stand up for themselves and the indigenous wisdom pertaining to regenerative models, that evolve our relationship with our only planet, Earth.
Marly:
Some of life’s most rewarding pursuits find us unexpectedly. Thank you for sharing the journey behind the making of The Train and the Peninsula, as well as your vision of its potential impact. In this conversation, I have felt my perspective widen, and I sincerely look forward to watching the documentary.
Sky:
Thanks so much for this interview Marly, great question.
Watch The Train and the Peninsula Online Now!
Available for free Dec 15-Dec 25, 2023
https://www.miradanativa.org/pelicula/el-tren-y-la-peninsula/
Subtitles (optional): English & Spanish
(When watching, select subtitles for English)
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/789575007
Website: www.eltrenylapeninsula.com
For more information or an interview request we are available at: eltrenylapeninsuladoc@gmail.com
Take Action for The Train and the Peninsula!
Embark on a journey of environmental awareness and cultural preservation by supporting the impactful documentary, "The Train and the Peninsula," brought to life by visionary directors Sky Richards and Andreas Kruger. This cinematic exploration sheds light on the ideological and territorial struggles faced by the Maya in the wake of the controversial "Maya Train" megaproject.
How to Make a Difference:
🔗 Donate through Gaia Temple: Your contribution to this cause is crucial in amplifying the voices of those affected by the environmental and social consequences of the imposed development model. Gaia Temple offers a tax-deductible platform, ensuring your support directly benefits "The Train and the Peninsula."
🌟 Why Donate?
Cultural Preservation: Support the preservation of the Maya's ancestral land and heritage.
Environmental Awareness: Contribute to exposing the harmful effects of the imposed development model on the region's landscape and culture.
Global Impact: Help create a collective narrative that raises awareness about the interconnectedness of environmental and social issues.
🎬 Join the Movement: Your donation is not just financial support; it's an investment in a sustainable and resilient future. Let's come together to champion this cause and make a lasting impact.
Donate Now: Visit Gaia Temple's Donation Page for donations $100 USD and under, and select "friends and family and write “The Train and the Peninsula" in the notes and comments. For donations over $100 please send us an email at hello@gaiatemple.org and we’ll work directly with you to support a tax deductible donation avoiding large overhead costs from platforms like PayPal. Every dollar brings us closer to a world where culture and nature thrive harmoniously.
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