(La cruz del sur). Taking Latin American religions as its connecting theme, Guzmán's little-known The Southern Cross “examine(s) the varieties of religious practices that formed the continent before and after 1492. Guzmán has fashioned a virtuoso piece of reconstruction, restaging religious ceremonies amidst spectacular Incan and Mayan ruins. . . . Relying on a variety of historic texts as supporting narrative, Guzmán gives us troubling insight (and), moving through a number of countries, searches out present-day traces of these ancient native religions, some of them indigenous to the continent, others influenced by African rites transported by the slaves to South America” (Toronto International Festival, 1992). B. Ruby Rich writes of “the extraordinary beauty and subtlety of the sound and image editing,” and for the famed Latin American scholar Eduardo Galeano, “this film by Patricio Guzmán is a sure synthesis of fiction and documentary. It's a voice of voices: a space for an encounter of American diversity.”