Kings for a Day
Director
AARON COLUSSI
Producers
DAVID BROAD
ALI WUNDERMAN
Editor
ESTEBAN BAILEY
Type
Documentary Feature
Status
Post-Production
Once a year in the Guatemalan highlands, the Maya community of Todos Santos risks life and limb in the ancient Skach Koyl horse race—an act of cultural defiance. As migration scatters the town from Guatemala to Oakland, the ritual becomes a lifeline for a people fighting erasure, racism, and fear, where survival itself is resistance.
Synopsis: Kings for a Day is an intimate, immersive portrait of a living Maya tradition that exists simultaneously in the highlands of Guatemala and the streets of California. Anchored in Todos Santos, Cuchumatán, the film follows the 400 year tradition of the annual Skach Koyl horse race, a ritual of music, intoxication, costume, and chaos that becomes a rare moment of collective release and unity. Through dreamlike interviews and kinetic festival montages, the town reveals itself as both a real place and a shared memory: misty mountains, marimba music, and color. A homeland carried in the minds of those who have left and those who remain. The film weaves together personal stories that reflect the fractured but resilient Maya diaspora. Jonathan, a U.S.-born son of Todos Santos, returns with his pregnant wife, determined to pass on a heritage he fears is slipping away. In Oakland, Damaso walks proudly through the city in traditional clothing, unafraid to be seen as Maya while helping others navigate the immigration system he once survived. The Maya dress can be dangerous in the current political climate, but to not wear them can be a forfeiture of cultural identity. Yasmine, undocumented and living in constant fear, works quietly in the shadows while sending money home to the children she left behind. These parallel lives reveal the cost of displacement, the violence of borders, and the quiet courage required to maintain identity in a world that punishes it. At the heart of the film is Roberto, a master weaver whose loom predates war, migration, and modernity. Through his hands, clothing becomes more than fabric: it is memory, resistance, and survival. As the race concludes and the town gathers in the cemetery to honor the dead, the film confronts the full weight of loss: graves marked with Guatemalan and American flags, lives cut short crossing borders, families split across continents. Yet Kings for a Day ultimately affirms endurance and survival. Through ritual, dress, music, and remembrance, the Maya of Todos Santos declare who they are - not just for a day, but across generations, wherever in the world they may stand.
Director — AARON COLUSSI: Aaron Colussi is a director and cinematographer specializing in raw, unscripted narratives in extreme environments. A North Face Expedition recipient and member of the BBC and Netflix Nature Units, Aaron brings a rugged, cinematic perspective to high-stakes storytelling. With 15 years of field experience and a background as a Forest Service Wildland Fire Contractor, he excels at capturing authentic human moments within complex and untamed landscapes.
Producer — DAVID BROAD: An NYU Tisch graduate and founder of Left Of Frame Pictures, David Broad is an award-winning producer with a track record of delivering high-impact content for global brands like JP Morgan Chase and acclaimed documentary films like Larry King: Beyond The Mic (PBS). David is an expert in maximizing production value and managing complex budgets to deliver resonance across global platforms.
Producer — ALI WUNDERMAN: Ali Wunderman is an award-winning travel journalist and author specializing in the Mundo Maya region. Her work has been featured in National Geographic, Vogue, and The Washington Post, and she is the author of definitive guidebooks to Belize and Guatemala. Bilingual and deeply embedded in the region, Ali provides the production with unparalleled cultural expertise, regional insight, and established local connections.
Editor — ESTEBAN BAILEY: Esteban is an award winning Puerto Rican filmmaker. After graduating from NYU Tisch, Esteban joined several screenwriting fellowships such as the NYU Production Lab Development Studio and Sundance Ignite. His short film El Extraño en la Casa Rivera screened at several film festivals, including the Atlanta Film Festival where he won the 'Filmmaker to Watch Award' and the 2023 Sundance Film Festival as part of the Ignite program. His screenplay 'The Strange Monster at the Rivera House' has won several awards including the Michael Collyer Fellowship in Screenwriting and was featured on the Latinx List. His second short, the horror comedy Ties, premiered at Fantaspoa 2023 in Porto Allegre, Brazil and screened at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and Winter Film Awards in NYC.