Celebrity Diversity: Ibero-American Film Festival come to Hamilton College
by Kyandreia Jones ’19, Staff Writer
On Monday, Feb. 4, the Celebrating Diversity: Women and Children in Ibero American Film Series commenced with the film Después de Lucía (in English, After Lucía) (2012.)
The festival screens films that depict social inequality, gender dynamics, refugees and other crucial subjects. In addition to bringing in diverse films, the festival promises to attract a diverse audience of filmmakers, including several from the Utica community and members of both the Film as well as Women and Gender Studies departments at Hamilton. The event seeks to welcome every voice to be heard and seen in advancing its goal of engaging community members who wish to enrich both themselves and their understanding of complex issues.
The festival is funded and supported by several organizations such as Pragda, SPAIN Arts & Culture, the Secretary of State of Culture of Spain, the Kirkland Endowment Fund, the Days-Massolo Center, the Dean of Students Office, the Cinema and Media Studies Program, and the Hispanic Studies Department.
Directed by award-winning Mexican filmmaker, producer, and director Michel Franco, Después de Lucía follows chef Roberto Rojas (Hernán Mendoza) and his teenage daughter Alejandra “Ale” Rojas (Tessa Ía González Norvind) as they move to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after the death of wife and mother Lucía Rojas. While Ale adjusts to her new life with ease, her father continually grapples with the emotional repercussions of beginning anew after a tragic loss.
However, Ale’s world is turned upside down when a leaked recording of her having intercourse with a classmate named José (Gonzalo Vega Sisto) makes her the target of sexual violence and bullying at her new school.
The film also explores topics of innocence, mental health, women’s sexuality, and communication between parents and children. Franco handles these issues without flinching from themes like the danger of silence or the uglinesses of human behavior.
The film has many scenes that are difficult to watch and even harder to reckon with.
“Latin American movies often bring forward hard issues and are honest in depicting violence and the flaws of the human condition,” said Visiting Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies Inés Corujo-Martin. Corujo-Martin is instrumental in bringing films like Después de Lucía to campus. “Franco is very influenced by extreme realism, using realist scenes to shock the spectator and provoke emotions without relief,” Corujo-Martin added.
When asked about the difficulty of watching certain scenes, Corujo-Martin said, “Bullying is harshly depicted, but in real life, bullying is just as harsh.”
In the film, Ale’s male classmates see her as a sex object and force themselves on her at their every convenience. At first Ale fights back and escapes sexual violence, but more cruel acts weaken her mental state and she becomes helpless against her attackers. Her female classmates view her as a threat. She has nowhere to go and no one to turn to as she does not want to break her already depressed father’s heart.
She often lies to her father, saying that she is “okay.” Después de Lucía won multiple prestigious awards, including those from the Cannes Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Havana Film Festival, and San Sebastián International Film Festival.
Corujo-Martin said the Festival’s goals are to start difficult conversations and to bring the community together.
“We can extrapolate these themes in any culture,” she said.
She adds that the whole Hamilton community would benefit from these screenings and conversations:
“For example, Franco brings up topics and themes that we don’t really talk about. [These topics and themes are] uncomfortable, but let’s talk about them. What are the problems that women and children face in our society? How are these problems depicted?”
Celebrating Diversity: Women and Children in Ibero American Film Series aims to answer the aforementioned questions and show how important it is for marginalized people (such as women and children) to have a voice. Diverse conversations like those featured in Después de Lucía add inclusion and relatability.
“Sometimes I watch movies and I feel indifferent,” said Corujo-Martin, “[but] these films will not make you feel indifferent. You will keep talking about them.”
The festival continues with a screening of El aula vacía (The Empty Classroom) on Feb. 19 at 7 PM in G027 of the Science Center.
El aula vacía is a compilation of eleven short films that explore the different reasons why nearly half of South American students don’t finish high school. Each short is directed by a different award-winning film-maker and utilizes either a narrative or documentary format. The film posits that political, cultural, medical, financial, and societal issues within South American countries prevent students from graduating.
