Events

Cine-Memoria: Past and Present in Latin American Cinemas is a conference and screenings that consider two times in the history of regional Latin American filmmaking. We return to the radical women’s movement and collective filmmaking of the 1960s and 1970s in screenings of rare short titles and reconsider this work in the light of political developments and the emergence of “global auteurs” with international recognition. The first day is dedicated to remembering the critical work of Cuban-American scholar Ana M. López and a third day features online presentations in Spanish and Portuguese.

About “We Were All to Be Queens”: Feminist Disruptions in Latin American Cinemas (1960s-1980s)

Program curated by Elizabeth Ramírez-Soto, Film and Media Studies

This double program brings together eight short films and videos by some of the most relevant women directors from Latin America made over two convulsive decades marked by revolution and political repression. The program takes its title from the famous poem by Chilean lesbian writer, educator, and Nobel laureate, Gabriela Mistral: “Todas íbamos a ser reinas.” The imperfect tense of the verse evokes the experience of becoming a woman surrounded by fairy tales that never materialize.

Unlike these patriarchal fables, the emancipated voices of the women reunited here expose these false illusions, deconstructing traditional discourses around marriage, motherhood, abortion, and immigration through sophisticated formal strategies that often blur the lines between fiction and nonfiction. Divided into two screenings, the first program gathers films and videos made collaboratively, either by militant feminist collectives like Cine Mujer (Mexico) or Cine Mujer (Colombia) or by activist couples such as the Brasilian lesbian video-makers Norma Bahia Pontes and Rita Moreira. The second one focuses on early feminist efforts by directors like Helena Solberg or Valeria Sarmiento, who favor the intimate dialogue and center on the domestic sphere to challenge the masculine voices that dominated the revolutionary period of their respective countries in the sixties.

Conference Credits

Producer: Jane Gaines, Professor of Film, Columbia University School of the Arts

Co-producers: Alex Alberro, Professor of Art History, Columbia University; and Elizabeth Ramírez-Soto, Associate Professor of Film, Columbia University School of the Arts

Student staff: Fernando Reinaldos, Fernando Luis Zapata, Vivian Arimany, Emilio Barkett, Matthew Huh, Max Gaan, and Emily Ko

Office of Communications at Columbia University School of the Arts: Tiffany Davis and Bernardo Valencia

Conference Registration Coordinator: Aaron Boalick

School of the Arts Film Division Staff: Andrew Castillo and Michael Belantrara

Faculty House Staff: Pamela Guardia and Summer Hart

Lenfest Center for the Arts Staff: Lauren Weigel, Zack Tinkelman, Dave Park, Ethan Caso, Dawn E. Clements, Calder Singer, and Frank Spigner

Special Thanks to

Sarah Cole, Dean of Columbia University School of the Art; Ron Gregg, Professor of Professional Practice, Film and Media Studies MA Program; Jack Lechner, Chair and Associate Professor of Professional Practice in Film; and Hanna Seifu, Director of Academic Administration Film MA and MFA programs.