MARÍA SABINA, MUJER ESPÍRITU
(MARIA SABINA, SPIRIT WOMAN)
dir. Nicolás Echevarría, 1979
81 min. Mexico.
In Mazatec & Spanish with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, MAY 5 – 5 PM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, MAY 23 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, MAY 29 – 10 PM

Poet-healer María Sabina is rumored to have provided John Lennon, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan, all with the power of magic mushrooms. Her knowledge of psilocybin healing techniques reached international acclaim in the ‘60s and ‘70s as American hippies sought altered states of consciousness. Yet, the excess attention brought Sabina under scrutiny of the law and damaged what she considered to be a sacred tradition. Nicolás Echevarría interviews Sabina about all of this and more in MARÍA SABINA, MUJER ESPÍRITU. Edited around the rhythms of Sabina’s daily practices, the film stands out as one of the few filmic documents of the famed healer.

Throughout the film, María Sabina curses the recreational use of psilocybin. Echevarría’s proclivity for evaluating Mexico’s strained relationship with alternative modes of healing became a pet theme throughout his career, reaching its apogee in 1991’s CABEZA DE VACA, a melodramatic retelling of the Spanish conquistador turned shaman who got stranded during an expedition in Florida. Always attune to the poetic flourishes of his country, Echevarría captures the mountainous Oaxaca where Sabina settled in warmly, offering a sincere counter-image to the fabled imaginary that has long surrounded the poet-healer.