Beatriz Mira Andreu

40 years ago in Mexico, a group of women filmmakers gathered to make films dealing with taboo subjects, gender violence, rape, feminicide, clandestine abortion, labor discrimination. They called themselves “Cine Mujer” and were active as a collective for over 10 years. Today they reflect on violence against women and their continuous struggles, which are still prevalent in modern society.

This heterodox work draws on fiction resources and the register of documentary to denounce the phenomenon of rape in Mexico. With a complex essay-like structure, the film is a reflection on the various types of sexual violence, from the classist legal apparatus and the connivance of religious institutions, to rejection of and discrimination against victims. At the same time, it introduces community alternatives for victim support. A project by “Cine Mujer,” this film exemplifies the group’s motto and mode of production, and thus one of the maxims of feminism: no personal solutions; only collective action for collective solutions.

It follows a group of women working in maquiladoras on the U.S.-Mexico border; their testimonies tell the story of their working conditions.

Beatriz Mira, a Brazilian filmmaker living in Mexico, films the housework carried out by women at the end of a decade marked by numerous political and social movements, including feminist groups that disputed the fact that women had been banished from the public sphere, and thus confined to the household. In their fights and debates, they wielded the motto ‘what’s personal is political’.