Chuchín is that endearing figure whom you always remember despite the passage of time, whether you are a student, architect, professor, staff member, or fellow worker. Felipe de Jesús Cortés Guevara—or Chuchín, as he is commonly known—seems to go nowhere else; he is always watching over what he considers his second home, the UNAM School of Architecture.
We rarely stop to think about what a custodian or maintenance assistant actually does. We assume they clean, of course; yet the limits of our empathy often manifest as a lack of recognition, taking for granted a job that is sometimes invisible in our work environments. What motivates these workers? What drives them to get up and go to work every day? Why do we tend to overlook their labor? The documentary Chuchín emerged from the UNAM Challenge “Inhabiting the Campus,” organized by the International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City (DocsMx). This initiative was part of the celebrations commemorating the 10th anniversary of the designation of the Central Campus of CU as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
