From Mechatronics to Cinema Opossum: Sharing Culture Is an Act of Resistance | Oaxaca Blog · Qué Onda Oaxaca
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Cine Poo · Función documental Lachatao, Atzompa, Oaxaca
Article8 min readApril 19, 2026
From Mechatronics to Cinema Opossum: Sharing Culture Is an Act of Resistance
The Filmoteca Maldita case, the opossum myth, and what it means to screen films on the outskirts of Oaxaca when the law pursues those who rescue the past.
By
Mish Dary
8 min
We live in a strange era. We have all the world's information at our fingertips, yet access to what truly matters has never been harder. Today I want to talk about something that has been on my mind: the case of La Filmoteca Maldita, and how that fight for cinema connects to what I'm trying to build here in Oaxaca — from the code behind this website to screenings in the streets of Atzompa.
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"El Feo's" Case: When Rescuing the Past Is a Crime
For those unfamiliar with the story, the digital culture world recently took a hard blow. A Spanish educator known as "El Feo," who ran the channel La Filmoteca Maldita and the site Zoowoman, was taken to court. His crime? Maintaining a repository of films the industry no longer sells — films not on Netflix, Amazon, or anywhere else. Films that were destined to die in oblivion.
El Feo, from La Filmoteca Maldita — his trial brings the debate over free access to cinema to the forefront
Police raided his home with a battering ram, as if they were chasing a drug trafficker, taking hard drives full of cult cinema. The prosecution is demanding nearly one million euros in fines and years in prison.
What strikes me most is the "indirect profit" argument. Since he charged nothing — no ads, no subscriptions — the law invented that his "gain" was prestige or followers. Under that logic, anyone who shares a book, a song, or a film out of pure love for art could be treated as a criminal.
We are prioritizing the business of a few over humanity's right to know its own cinematic history.
When I started, I wasn't the "organizer" you see now. I was a mechatronic engineer returning to his home state and sensing something was off. I began promoting events and films with a lot of naivety and real fear. I didn't know who to reach out to, I had no contacts in Oaxaca's "cultural world," and honestly, I felt like no one was listening.
That's when I created @cineyekuk. The logic was simple: if I want people to watch a film that changed my life, I have to explain why it matters. I started reviewing every film hoping that at least one person would show up.
In time, reality set in: the center of Oaxaca already has incredible spaces doing great work — museums, cultural centers, and collectives with strong outreach. I understood that space was already full. The vacant space was on the periphery, in the local, where the "digital noise" of tourism doesn't reach.
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Cine Poo: The Opossum in Atzompa
I now live in Atzompa, and that is where I decided to plant my flag. If I was going to keep doing this, I needed a real impact on my immediate community. That's how Cine Poo was born.
In my mother tongue, Ayuuk (Mixe), Poo means Opossum — and it's no coincidence. In our ancient stories, the opossum is the humblest hero: it was he who stole fire from the gods to give it to humanity. He didn't ask for permission. He scorched his tail in the process — but he brought the light.
Cine Poo flyer for the Lachatao documentary in Atzompa — community cinema in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca
That is exactly what Cine Poo tries to do with cinema. Access to culture should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford a streaming subscription or a commercial cinema ticket that costs as much as a family meal. Sharing films — even when the law doesn't understand the context — is our way of "stealing fire."
Check the events calendar →queondaoaxaca.com/en · Got something to share? Write us at mezcalspeaks@gmail.com
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Baby Steps in an Overwhelming World
Today, the project has grown. QueOndaOaxaca.com is no longer just an idea — it's a platform built so people can find things to do without algorithms selling them things. Thanks to that growth, quality films and new releases are starting to come through.
But here's where reality hits. The problem now isn't fear — it's time and resources.
▸Flying solo: No marketing team, no designer, no external funding.
▸Time is everything: Splitting time between engineering work, maintaining the website, organizing LudiTalk language exchanges, and screening films is a titanic task.
▸Lack of spaces: There isn't always a safe, dignified venue for screenings, and the technical gear — projectors, sound — comes out of pocket.
Progress happens in baby steps. Every technical or financial problem solved means one more centimeter forward. Because this is not a sprint — it's a long-distance race.
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Why Keep Going?
The case of El Feo and La Filmoteca Maldita reminds us: if we let culture become purely a business, we will lose our identity. If an engineer in Oaxaca doesn't use their knowledge to build bridges of access, then what is technology for?
Two rules guide this project:
▸If you can pay, support: Buy local artists' work. Pay for tickets at independent cinemas. That's how creators survive.
▸If there's no access, share: Don't let "orphan works" or blocked content die. Culture that isn't shared, rots.
Qué Onda Oaxaca and its film clubs are a way of saying we don't need permission to learn, to connect, or to watch a good film. We are in Atzompa, we are in the Central Valleys, and even if it's one baby step at a time — we will keep sharing the fire.
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Want to advertise or sell something? You can do it in our Featured section. That's how we fund this project and keep creating content about Oaxaca.
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Looking for something special from Oaxaca? Visit our shop — find items that support this project directly.
This is an independent community project. If you found value here, consider buying me a coffee — it keeps this going. Also: we have a tiny shop — t-shirts, mezcal & stuff.
