The Guardians interweaves the lives of the iconic monarch butterfly with an insightful indigenous community in Mexico. Both depend on the same ancient forest for their survival and now face an uncertain future.

Migrating 3,000 miles to hibernate in the towering Oyamels, the monarch population faces extinction, hitting a record low.For the people of Donaciano Ojeda  "if the trees die, the butterfly dies, and then we die."   They have chosen for a sustainable future for their ancestral lands which are now part of the protected Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Once loggers of this forest, they’ve made the radical decision to regrow it instead. Today they fiercely guard the trees.

Santos, a charismatic avocado farmer and Aristeo, a philosophical tree caretaker are the storytellers of the community as they face the dangerous and  relentless threat of illegal logging and internal divisions.

Shot over three years, this intimate documentary takes viewers on a cinematic journey through the butterfly dense mountaintops of Michoacan as the community works to build a sustainable path forward. 54 Minutes, Tessa Moran and Ben Crosbie. ITVS

http://www.theguardiansfilm.com/

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