Following Greater Sudbury council passing a motion declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic, Sudbury Indie Cinema is screening a film Nov. 25 focusing on the topic.
Local filmmaker Emilce Quevedo presents her first feature documentary “We, the Women.”
It’s a very personal story crafted by Quevedo over the course of several years in an attempt to unravel and end an inter-generational legacy of abuse suffered by multiple generations of family members, including her grandmother, mother and all her aunts.
That being beaten by your male partner was somewhat normalized in her family in rural Columbia terrified her as she herself wed.
Saturday, Nov. 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and in Sudbury, Indie Cinema will be presenting the local premiere of Quevedo’s powerful documentary.
We, The Women (Nosotras, the original title in Spanish) was selected for Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto where it enjoyed its World Premiere. In Columbia, earlier this month the film was an official selection at Cali International Film Festival hosted in Santiago de Cali. At its national premiere, We The Women took home the Best Columbian Feature Film Award.
Beth Mairs, a programmer at Sudbury Indie Cinema, accompanied Quevedo to the World Premiere at Hot Docs with a contingent from Sudbury.
It became a priority to her to programme the film for Sudbury for a couple of reasons: firstly, to support outstanding work by a Sudbury-based filmmaker; and secondly, as a tool to critically examine this social issue using a feminist lens.
“Emilce’s film is really extraordinary: we haven’t seen this kind of highly compassionate and personal doc on domestic abuse since ‘A Better Man’ by Toronto-based Attiya Khan,” said Mairs.
While “We, the Women” is Quevedo’s first feature doc, she has worked in film and television last 10 years focused on projects with an emphasis on social issues, including: the sexual abuse of Colombian women in the midst of the armed conflict; the crisis of thousands of personas subject to forced displacement in her homeland.
“I think it is important to talk about the private, about what happens behind closed doors,” Quevedo said.
“I remember that my mother held a lot of resentment due to marital violence with her first husband. Unfortunately with my father, the same history of abuse was repeated, which I witnessed many times.
“Keeping silent hurts and allows the violence to continue. Many women live the same situation but do not dare to speak out. I realized that all my aunts and my mother had been abused by their husbands but, despite being family, we did not know each other's stories.”
The YWCA and the Coalition to End Violence Against Women have come in as sponsors of this event.
"This deeply moving documentary of one family’s story of generational trauma caused by gender-based violence can be repeated by so many others across the world and in our own neighbourhood," says Marlene Gorman, Executive Director of YWCA Genevra House.
"Hope begins when we break the silence and wrap our support around one another. The Wrapped in Courage campaign which launches on the same day, brings a message of hope to survivors of gender-based violence that they are not alone."
Although Quevedo was unable to attend the premiere in Columbia this month, she is very excited to be in attendance at the local premiere.
A filmmaker Q&A with her — with a little help with translation from Spanish to English — will be a highlight Sudburians can enjoy.
The YWCA Wrapped in Courage campaign will be the recipient of $5 from each ticket sold — and purple scarves will be available at the event. Tickets are $15 advance or $20 at the door. Doors open 6:30 p.m., and the 70 min. film rolls around 7 p.m.
Sudbury Indie Cinema is the region’s first arthouse cinema and launched a women-directed film series in 2015 called #WomenInFilmWednesdays.
The cinema is a not-for-profit co-op which showcases the best independent film year-round with an aim to introduce new voices and reflect more diverse stories.
Purchase tickets through the Indie’s website.
