Cinemattic presents Sacred Art, Secret Women, a short film programme offering a collective portrait of Latin American women’s artistic and audiovisual expressions across six decades. Through documentary, animation, experimental formats, and archival material, this series brings to light stories of dreams and fears, social norms and legends, ancestral knowledge, and women whose art may have been overlooked but whose voices endure. Spanning from Mexico to Ecuador, it invites a reflection on the multidimensional art of women – the personal and communal, the known and the hidden – honoring creators we may have never met, yet whose art leaves an indelible mark.
Delicious Colombian street food from Sabor al Toque awaits!
📅 15th November– Doors open at 7:00pm / Screening starts at 7:30pm
📍 St Peter’s Church Hall, Lutton Place, Edinburgh EH8 9PE
Accessibility
This programme will screen with descriptive subtitles, transcribing both dialogue and key sounds and other key audio information from the film
This venue is wheelchair accessible
Embarking on this journey through different expressions and constructs of Latin American women, we move from Luna Marán’s reflections on dreaming and imagination in Aprender a soñar (2021), through the artistic experimentation of María Chalela in An Educated Woman (2015), and onward to the Andean roots and creative heritage explored by Marisol Barragán in Paulina y el cóndor (1994). The programme then uncovers the photographic legacy of Julia Chambi with Claudia Holgado and Andrea Quiroz in Julia se revela (2024), and concludes with the voices of a new generation of Kichwa women shaping their communities in Frida Muenala’s Warmi Pachakutik (2019). Together, these films celebrate storytelling through women’s perspectives, hands, and lenses, offering a multifaceted portrait of art, culture, and resilience.
Short film programme
Aprender a soñar / Learning to Dream
Luna Marán / 2021 / Mexico / Hybrid film / 7’
Aprender a soñar (Learning to Dream) is a personal and reflective documentary essay directed by Luna Marán, Zapotec filmmaker from Guelatao de Juárez, Oaxaca. Known for her cultural activism and community-based audiovisual work, Marán intertwines autobiographical experiences and reflections on women’s presence in their ability to dream, to imagine, and to create. The film reflects on the duality between freedom and the conditions under which women can dream, drawing from both Luna’s personal journey in filmmaking and a collective experience rooted in her town.
Una Mujer Educada/ An Educated Woman
María Chalela / 2015 / Colombia / Animation / 3’
Created by painter and filmmaker María Chalela, An Educated Woman is a three-part animated short made entirely with gouache on glass and board. Through the episodes Uneducated Woman, Factory, and The Absurd of a Self-Portrait, Chalela reflects on how societal biases shape women’s identities. This short uses visual poetry to critique education, labor, and self-representation, transforming handmade animation into a statement on womanhood and social conditioning.
Paulina y el cóndor / Paulina and the Condor
Marisol Barragán Ibargüen / 1994 / Bolivia / Animation / 9’
Directed by Marisol Barragán Ibargüen, Paulina y el cóndor tells the story of Paulina, a peasant girl who visits the city for the first time, where she faces attempts to keep her from returning home—until a celestial friendship intervenes. Crafted using the unique torn-paper technique, made entirely by hand with the artist’s fingernails, the film blends manual artistry and visual storytelling. Barragán, trained at the Sorbonne in Paris, is recognized as a pioneer of Andean animation and a key figure in Bolivia’s artistic cinema.
Julia se revela / Julia Reveals Herself
Claudia Holgado & Andrea Quiroz / 2024 / Peru / Documentary / 35’
In Julia se revela (Julia Reveals Herself), directors Claudia Holgado and Andrea Quiroz retrace the story of Julia Chambi, regarded as the first Andean and Peruvian woman photographer. When Claudia revisits the photographs and personal belongings of her great-aunt Julia, she embarks on a journey into the past that intertwines with the testimonies of the people Julia portrayed throughout her life. Through these voices, the film reconstructs Julia’s presence—daughter, sister, artist, and pioneer—and reflects on the role of Andean women in the cultural and artistic evolution of southern Peru. Screened at the Latin American Foto Festival (Bronx Documentary Center) and the Freezer International Photography Festival in Argentina, the documentary honors Julia’s vision while reclaiming a space for women’s authorship in Andean history.
Warmi Pachakutik
Frida Muenala / 2020 / Ecuador / Documentary / 55’
Directed by Frida Muenala, a Kichwa-Zapoteca filmmaker, Warmi Pachakutik portrays the creativity and strength of a new generation of Kichwa women—artists, activists, and entrepreneurs—who, through their work, challenge gender roles and redefine belonging. Grounded in the Andean worldview, the film highlights how these women reclaim cultural spaces and construct a feminine identity rooted in community and cosmo-existence. Muenala’s perspective centers Indigenous women as active agents of social transformation and creators of their own narratives.
