How do you approach the beginning of a project?

We are not artists searching for subjects to cover - we are part of the communities, realities and struggles we film in. We are part of a network of people and movements that is changing the world.

We begin, I guess like everyone must begin: trying to feel what is true and beautiful/painful/human in the world we move through; trying to belong to the land and the people that we love; trying to understand how to fight for the true and the beautiful against an ugly violence that is also everywhere.

What is your daily creative work schedule?

Making films is schizophrenic work. Its different phases force us to become different people. When we shoot, we try to be quick and quiet and become a part of the rhythm of the world we move through. When we edit, we live alone, cut 18 hours a day and sleep next to the computer. When we finish a film we are loud and cocky.

What would you be if you couldn't be a filmmaker/ artist/ writer/ multimedia/ installationist?

We are not filmmakers. We are Zapatistas.

What was the most encouraging feedback you ever got and what was its aftermath?

A television programmer stood up after one of the premiere screenings at IDFA and said, "This is an incredibly dangerous film, and it will never be broadcast!"

A month later it was already translated into Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Korean (with Turkish, Russian, and Tzotzil on the way) and was being screened in occupied factories in Argentina, by the left wing unions in South Korea, in autonomous social centers across Europe, in the townships of South Africa and in rebel territory in Southern Mexico.