STATEMENT BY EMILCE AVALOS AND CECILIA TRASLAVIÑA

We women form a human hemisphere.
Every law, every movement for freedom or culture
has long left us in the shadows.
- Gabriela Mistral (chilean poet)

Curating this program: Latin American Special was for us a very enriching experience. It meant encounters of debates and discoveries. We thank TrickyWomen for inviting us and trusting our judgment. 
Each meeting was a revelation. The short films invited us to enter into thousands of universes, as if it were a kind of very fine weave in which we found some common, but not always obvious, features. This sensation turned into questions such as: what makes these short films dialogue, besides being made by women from a specific region?; what stories do we resonate with, identify with and why?; what is it like to be a woman in Latin America?; what does Latin America mean?

This program is a sample of the complexity that defines us, layers of history that intertwine. Snippets of original cultures, combined with traditions adapted in diverse waves of immigration. A region that has been, and continues to be, the object of expansionist and colonial projects, rich in natural resources, subjugated by the violence exercised by different powers over time, by displacements, social and economic inequality, dictatorships, racism and classism. It also reflects the inner and emotional worlds of women, the observation of one's own pain, the recognition of abuses, the connection with inheritances and legacies. The richness of diversity, the sorority, the great vitality and desire to change the world. Therefore, animation plays a very important role, it is the bridge that allows us to create worlds that work with other logics, and thus make us see events that otherwise would go unnoticed, animation allows us to poeticize, to fabricate, to face our uncomfortable, painful realities. Ultimately, to take us to the depths of the human condition.

These films pose a challenge to us as women, as animators and as Latin Americans. To recognize the space we have been forging, the possibility of expressing ourselves and making ourselves heard, of demanding respect for our rights. And also the need to spark new conversations with the rest of society, so that it can look into these worlds and see the complexity of the problems that surround women and dissidence.

We hope that this panorama will be a contribution to look at ourselves, discover ourselves and meet the world.