Federico Cecchetti releases film Jíkuri about Antonin Artaud

Director Federico Cecchetti has released the film ‘Jíkuri: Viaje al país de los Tarahumaras’, a cinematic exploration of the encounter between different worlds. The film is inspired by the 1936 journey of French poet, playwright, and theater theorist Antonin Artaud to the Sierra Tarahumara.

Rather than a conventional biography, the film utilizes a dual-timeline structure based on Artaud’s book. It moves between the Sierra Tarahumara, focusing on Rarámuri rituals and the use of jícuri (peyote), and France, where Artaud was eventually admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The project aims to weave together elements of shamanism, Mexican culture, surrealism, and poetry.