Join us on Saturday Nov 22 at 2 pm at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for a screening of Federico Cuatlacuatl’s most recent short experimental film, Quemarle las Patas al Imperio (To Burn the Feet of the Empire), 2025 and a curated selection of short films he has created since 2014. Following the screening, Kluge-Ruhe director Nici Cumpston will join Cuatlacuatl for an in conversation.

Federico Cuatlacuatl visually delineates migration and displacement while smuggling acts of self-preservation, rematriation, and resistance. He ‘smuggles’ indigenous Mexican traditions and culture to the United States, reclaiming his ancestral Nahua lineage, land, and language. As a DACAmented member of the Nahua community, Cuatlacuatl’s work is shaped by the colonial marginalization and disenfranchisement faced by indigenous communities in México while being deeply rooted in challenging socio-political and economic relations between México and the United States.

A RECEPTION FOR THE AUDIENCE WILL FOLLOW FROM 3:30-4:30 IN THE CLAIBORNE- ROBERTSON ROOM ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF VMFA NEXT TO AMUSE RESTAURANT

This event is part of the Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival taking place in Richmond, Virginia November 20-23, 2025. Learn more at pocahontasreframed.com