Roberto Rochín Naya
Roberto Rochín Naya is one of the most acclaimed Mexican filmmakers of his generation. His film Ulama, the Game of Life and Death (1986) received five Ariel Awards at the 30th edition and the Diosa de Plata, and has been exhibited at Expo Hannover 2000 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Beyond his work as a director, Rochín founded and leads Motion Control México, the exclusive distributor of General Lift International in Latin America. Under his leadership, the company has brought to México the motion control systems used by studios such as Laika, Stoopid Buddy Studios, and Taller del Chucho — where Guillermo del Toro filmed Pinocchio, Pinochowinner of the 2023 Oscar® for Best Animated Feature.
His filmmaker's perspective informs every technical integration: he understands the technology from the standpoint of a director who needs a specific shot, not from that of a vendor selling equipment. That is the difference that sets Motion Control México apart from any other distributor in the region.
Awards and Exhibitions
Five Ariel Awards (30th edition) for Ulama, the Game of Life and Death
Diosa de Plata, Mexican Film Press Association
Featured at Expo Hannover 2000
Featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Selected at international film festivals
He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, United States. For his debut feature Ulamathe Game of Life and Death (1987), he received the Ariel Awards for Best Debut Feature, Best Feature Film, Best Score, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography at the 30th Ariel Awards in México, as well as the Diosa de Plata for Best Debut Feature at the 24th Diosas de Plata in México. The film was presented at the 1st Universal Exposition Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2003, among other venues. He also won Best Fiction Short Film at the 29th WorldFest Houston International Film & Video Festival in Texas for Un pedazo de noche (1995).
For Paso del Norte (2001), he won the Ariel Award for Best Fiction Short Film at the 44th Ariel Awards, along with three awards at the 5th Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF). He participated in the 6th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) with his fiction feature Purgatorio, relatos de Juan Rulfo (2008), for which he received the Jury Prize at the 36th Brussels International Independent Film Festival (FIFI), Belgium; the Free Spirit Award at the 25th Warsaw Film Festival (WFF), Poland; and the Silver Pre-Columbian Circle for Best Film at the 26th Bogotá Film Festival (Bogocine), Colombia.
ULAMA, THE GAME OF LIFE AND DEATH
In Ulama, the Game of Life and Death, the ballgame of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures is recovered and recreated through a range of audiovisual techniques, from direct documentary footage to historical reconstruction. The director stages a scene that portrays the ongoing struggle between life and death, the Sun and the Moon, represented through the ritual of Ulamaliztli — the ballgame.
Of the documentary, critic Saul Ramos Navas wrote: "This film, made in 1986, has been warmly received because it is a superb piece of research that travels through every region of pre-Hispanic México where dedicated spaces existed for the practice of this sport. The film also engages with the mythic dimensions of the game — such as when humans played against death to preserve their existence — demonstrating that the game was deeply tied to religious life. These were ritual games through which natural forces were guided to maintain the cosmic order."
Pok Ta Pok
Among his other projects are the screen adaptations of Elmer Mendoza's El amante de Janis Joplin and Asesino solitario.In 2011 he produced CANELA (2011). His original mobile game POK-TA-POK, inspired by the Mesoamerican ballgame, is available on the Apple App Store at www.poktapokgames.com.
Projects in development: a feature film based on Mayan mythology from the Popol Vuh, and a feature film based on the Maderist revolution titled MADERO, Apostle of Democracy.