Our Roots Remain
2025 Shorts México
2025 CFF
In the mountains of Michoacán, Mexico, the Indigenous town of Cherán did what no one thought possible: it kicked out the cartels, shut down illegal logging, and took back control of its future. Our Roots Remain (Enraizados) follows the community’s transformation from uprising to self-rule through the lives of three generations shaped by the movement. Susy, a teenage street artist, turns local memory into public art. Paco, an environmental engineer, works to restore the land while building systems independent of the state. And Geno, one of the rebellion’s first organizers, looks back on the cost of standing up, and what it takes to keep going.
Directors
Ivonne Serna
Ivonne Serna is a Mexican documentary filmmaker, climate policy advisor, and environmental researcher. Her recent films have been supported by The Redford Center, Alter-Ciné Foundation, and Creative Europe MEDIA, featured by PBS, and screened at festivals including Mountainfilm and Shorts México. She is also an alum of the Documentary Campus Masterschool. Ivonne has worked across climate research, conservation, and diplomacy with the United Nations Environment Programme, The Nature Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society. In 2024, she served as Mexico’s lead negotiator on Just Transition and Response Measures at COP29 under the UNFCCC. Her academic research focuses on political ecology, urban adaptation, and global climate governance, with publications in Ecology and Society and a forthcoming volume on climate change and international relations with Edward Elgar Press.
Sélim Benzeghia
Sélim Benzeghia is an award-winning French documentary filmmaker, producer, and impact strategist. He is a graduate of the Documentary Campus Masterschool. His debut feature A Slide and Barbed Wire, an exposé on the detention of migrant children in France, was broadcast by France Télévisions, and screened at the French Parliament, where it contributed to national policy reform. The film is currently on the international festival circuit as part of a wider impact campaign. Sélim is the co-founder of Koudéta Films, where he directs, shoots, and produces socially engaged documentaries and global media campaigns for clients including France Télévisions, UNHCR, Radio Nova, and UNICEF. Fluent in French, English, Spanish, and Arabic, he brings a transnational lens and on-the-ground experience across North Africa, Latin America, and Europe.