In an ancient forest in central Mexico, Oyamel trees sway with the weight of millions of monarch butterfl¬ies that coat its branches in clumps of orange and black. They make a perilous 3,000 mile journey from Canada to hibernate in this unique eco-system each year. But the population faces collapse, hitting a record low of 33 million, down from 1 billion just twenty years ago. Many of the Monarchs make a stop on the Southeast Campus on their way to and from Canada to Mexico! In the valley below, the people of Donaciano Ojeda must carve out a sustainable future in their ancestral lands that are now part of the protected Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Once loggers of this forest, they decided twenty years ago to stop, and to protect it and regrow it instead. Santos, a charismatic avocado farmer and Artisteo, a philosophical tree caretaker are the storytellers of the community’s journey as they face new threats of illegal logging, internal divisions, and their own mortality. Paralleling the lives of human and monarch, the Guardians is a cinematic meditation on life, death and the lengths we go to for the next generation.

Film by Ben Crosbie & Tessa Moran, with original music by Calexico.