Two years after the release of '' Maxhumain '' , Reygadas began writing his first feature-length movie . Shooting for the film , named '' Japón '' , began in 2001 . When finished , the film was presented at the Rotterdam Film Festival and received a special mention for the Caméra d'Or award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival , as well as the Coral Award of the Havana Film Festival . Many critics argued that '' Japón '' ( 2002 ) revolutionized Mexican cinema by defying the conventions of dramatic structure and inventing a new cinematographic language that reflects the sensory world humans inhabit while expressing life as an transcendental experience . The film 's title questions a simplistic correlation between signifier and signified , for although it is named after Japan , the island country itself is never portrayed , or even mentioned , in any way throughout ; the story is set in a remote and impoverished Hidalgo town
2002 Cannes Film Festival
2002 Cannes Film Festival
Carlos Reygadas