Story
The women of Pedro Guzmán is a work of excavation.
My female ancestors, counting from my grandmother's generation and back, were immensely mistreated, oppressed, and abused by their husbands, likewise, belittled by the society of that time (early nineteen-hundreds). To survive, they numbed their feelings and learned to silence their voices. In spite of that, my grandmother Libia emphatically taught her eight daughters to be "proud", understood as arrogance.
Libia was buried under the weight of her expectations, as a catholic, respectable woman. But, the exploitation of women and their subservient role within her own family and society frustrated her into action. Despite having a repressed sense of self-worth, she developed a pride within herself, which would redefine how the Guzmán women would perceive love and relationships henceforth.
A bit of background...
The women of Pedro Guzmán is a work of excavation. For several years, I scrutinized my family's memories in the pursuit of clarifying what it implied to be a woman within bloodline. I rationalized why my female lineage seemed destined to be single mothers. Digging into the events of my family history, focusing on my grandmother Libia (2002) and her sister, my great-aunt Silvia.
The film highlights Fernanda Sánchez grandmother's tenacious personality and the “chauvinist mentality” employed while raising eleven children. How her eight daughters experienced the frustration and guilt when she found herself immersed in situations of scarcity and abandonment. Countless interviews and anecdotes distill memories of "miscarriages", "incests" and pain. Emphasizing that, for them, men have been a source of love, but more so abandonment and subjugation.
The film follows a narrative structure, tracing events mainly through my great-aunt when visiting her hometown in Colombia after nearly fifty-two years spent away in the United States.
Silvia Guzmán menstruation´s anecdote...
"I remember that day very well!" She exclaimed.
She drew in a long breath and spoke- "It was a cloudy night, and I had recently turned thirteen. I woke up with severe pain in my belly and noticed that my pyjama was wet. Immediately, I lit a candle and noticed my nightdress stained with blood. I felt overwhelmed and couldn't understand what was happening. For a moment, I thought I had fallen and, perhaps, a stick got stuck inside me!"
