Making Mixtec Pottery (1973)

Over the course of 38 minutes Allen Downss Making Mixtec Pottery intimately captures the process of creating clay pottery in Oaxaca Mexico Along with the Zapotecs the Mixtecs are considered the most culturally and artistically advanced group of people of Oaxaca dating from 2000 BC The film begins by following a single man from start to finish as he shapes a red clay pot He extracts the clay from a mountainside combines it with water and mica a binding agent and slowly forms the vessel with his hands Downs documented this process intimately using extreme closeups to meditate on the artists hands as he works As the film progresses various establishing and midrange shots are interspersed before transitioning to footage of other men creating their own pottery with their own techniques Downss gentle personal portrait of the work of the Mixtec potters reveals the process behind an ancient art form