Los Judas de mi Pueblo - Documentary Film

I'm Gabriela Hernandez, the director, and one of the producers of "Los Judas de mi Pueblo" (The Judas of my people), along with Valeria Ruiz, Juan Hernandez, family, and friends who have contributed in many ways to tell the story of a tradition from my hometown and family.

We came together with a group of colleagues and visual artists, using our own tools and resources, to begin telling and capturing this story that is woven every year in the city of San José Iturbide, Guanajuato, Mexico. We now as Ave Noir: Productora Audiovisual began this journey by capturing what would have otherwise been lost in collaboration with the Hernández family and residents.

This documentary tells the story of the Quema de Judas (Burning Judas) tradition, both present, and past. The perspectives of San José Iturbide residents who were present at the Quemas de Judas prior to the November 19th, 1982, accident in which a gunpowder explosion took the lives of members of the Hernández family and its main exponents are shown: Don Cornelio Hernández and his son Daniel Hernández. Which introduced the tradition, cardboard art, and pyrotechnics to the town of San Jose.

Almost 20 years later, a spark of inspiration in Daniel's children brought the Hernandez family and town together to revive the tradition. We tell this story, as how it is lived today with the third and fourth generation of cardboard artists, 40 years after the tragedy.

This project has made us so passionate about the importance of documenting the origins of cardboard art and pyrotechnics in our municipality, as well as the anecdotes, the festival, the essence, and the people of San José Iturbide, who have supported us with their testimonies, enthusiasm, and love for this tradition of the Judas Burning that unites everything.

Financing is a critical component of audiovisual production. And these are needed to complete the soundtrack, editing, translation in English, and broadcasting. The intention is to take our project on tour for the following year in the United States.

Omaha, Nebraska, and Chicago, Illinois are some of the states we will start the tour, hoping to add more states that are interested in knowing more about our culture and traditions. This also will cover the post-production costs and the traveling expenses of those who have worked in this film voluntarily for the past 4 years.

We appreciate and thank you in advance for your time and support for this film. Any contribution, no matter how small, will be meaningful to us and will help us to achieve this goal.

When we showed the trailer to the people of San Jose on April 17th, 2022, tears welled up from their first memories of this tradition. And that only inspires us, even more, to offer the best quality we can to everybody eager to learn from our culture.

We invite you to participate by supporting this project, and we hope that one day you will visit the small town of San Jose Iturbide in Guanajuato, Mexico. To experience this colorful, joyful, and welcoming celebration that shows us our shadows to only dissolve them after we burn them and enjoy a good laugh. We do this event every last Sunday night of easter in the heart where everything began.

If you want to be one of Los Judas de mi Pueblo's official sponsors, we invite you to read the following categories and benefits for you:

A Light - $300 dollars

A Judas - $1000 dollars

A Thunder - $1,500 and more

Terms and Conditions to appear in the acknowledgments of the credits:

Note: If you would like to donate any film equipment (cameras, lighting equipment, laptops) so that we can continue creating, or if you have any suggestions, please contact us at [email redacted].

Any investment counts, and sharing this project will also help us a ton!

If you would like to know more about this yearly event, check our Facebook page: Quema de Judas San José Iturbide

Team Ave Noir, 2022