From the Film Room: Women of Earth/Mulheres da Terra (BR)
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2021, we’re thrilled to be launching the latest initiative from Comuna Project, the Film Room. We’re so happy to be sharing our first collaboration with Women of Earth/Mulheres da Terra organization from Brazil with our community. On Monday, March 8, 2021, we’ll be gathering in virtual space for a Live screening of the award-winning feature documentary film, Women of Earth (2019), followed by a very special, intimate and intergenerational panel discussion with the Directors and cast members centred around the themes of the film: increasing visibility and support for traditional midwives, traditional medicine, women’s health workers, women’s rights in marginalized communities, intersectional female empowerment, environmentalism and land stewardship, Indigenous identities and futures, and reconnecting to ancestral roots and wisdom to heal communities.
About Women of Earth
Mayara grew up in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and Latin America. She was a teenager surrounded by millions of people, technology, and everything the modern world can offer, but she still felt empty. In search of someone who could answer her questions, she went back to the roots of Brazil; to indigenous, quilombolas and rural communities. On this journey, she met women who showed her how the wisdom of the past can heal the future. They are traditional midwives, healers, and community leaders. They are keepers of ancient knowledge that we can’t afford to lose. She calls them Women of Earth.
Mayara and Isadora were in their teens when they began developing this film with Katia Lund. Together, they created the idea of a road trip to film with the Women of Earth that Mayara had come to know and document in her travels throughout Brazil. Isadora had just graduated from film school in Sao Paulo and was helping Mayara create a foundation to connect these women. Katia, an experienced filmmaker (co-director of City of God), began to mentor Mayara and Isadora on their first feature film, with the story, script, editing, crew and production, but the actual filming was done almost entirely by Mayara and Isadora alone. The two young girls would travel alone to the remote areas, sleeping in the homes of the Women of Earth and living with them. On later trips, drones and cinematographers accompanied them. Eduardo Gripa was instrumental in the construction of a narrative; sensitive, honest and simple as the story itself. The guiding idea has always been to show the beauty of the exchange and relationship between these two generations: a generation of modern city teenagers with the traditional elders of often forgotten and devalued indigenous, quilombola and rural communities.
The communities featured in the Women of Earth are some of Brazil’s and the World’s most vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. For International Women’s Day, the Comuna Project is honoured to be partnering with Women of Earth to offer this special event as a way to continue supporting their project and important work in the communities featured in the film, and play a small part in amplifying their message through cross-cultural community and conversation. Proceeds from ticket purchases will be going to Mulheres da Terra organization to help with basic necessities for the women featured in the film so that they can safely continue the important work in their communities during this difficult time.
Join us for the screening event and panel discussion on Monday, March 8, 2021, with the Directors and cast members in recognition of International Women’s Day.
Directors Statements
Mayara Boaretto, Director, is this project’s creator. At age 17 she began a search for traditional midwives in Brazil that turned into a journey of knowledge and encounters throughout the world. She apprenticed with traditional midwifes and recently graduated from obstetrics at Sao Paulo University. She directed the film’s content.
Isadora Carneiro, Director and Director of Photography, is a filmmaker known for her 1,001 uses: she films, photographs, edits and produces. She directed the project’s first documentary miniseries. She also dedicates herself to her personal project of filming and photographing births.
Kátia Lund, Director, is a writer-director based in Brazil, whose films, series, music videos and ad campaigns have won awards around the world. She co-directed the film City of God, nominated for four Oscars, a Golden Globe and many other awards. Palace II and the related series City of Men won Bafta awards and many international festivals. The dramatic comedy series for HBO, fdp, won Best Series at the Brazilian Academy of Cinematic Arts. Music videos like Emicida’s Boa Esperança and Rappa’s A Minha Alma have become film-style landmarks in the genre. News from a Private War, nominated for an Emmy, won its place as a Brazilian documentary classic. Katia helped found a filmmaking school for underprivileged youth and also, WDIT, an organization for the recognition of women in film.