Mamá

(Mom)

In-Theater Livestream Conversation

  • Natalia Brizuela is the Class of 1930 Chair of the Center for Latin American Studies and a professor in the Departments of Film & Media and Spanish & Portuguese at UC Berkeley.

An extraordinarily sensitive first film where both mother and son open a dialogue in an attempt at self-discovery.

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As a Mexican Tzotzil [in Chiapas,] I grew up between the sacrality both of Guadalupe Virgin and Mother Earth. As a son, I grew up among the derision of not having a father and blaming my mother for it. After I became aware of what I am, what Xun represents and does as a man, it was very hard. I realized that the first feminine body against which I exercised violence was my mother’s. . . . Who are you, mom? This is the question that guided me in the making of this film. Therefore, throughout the film, we strip off the layers that construct what we suppose is a mother, and we get to know the person behind this figure—her dreams, her pain, her laughter, her life. That is my desire with this film, from wanting to heal myself and wanting to know and get closer to my mother.

Xun Sero
FILM DETAILS 
Cinematographer
  • Xun Sero
  • José A. Jiménez
Language
  • Spanish
  • Tzotzil
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 80 mins
Source
  • Terra Nostra Films