Estefanía Arregui and Virginia Sotomayor They are feminists, cultural managers and passionate about the seventh art. It was this same feeling that led them in 2018 to come up with a project that promoted the rights of women, children and dissidents. This is how the first edition of Equis-Ecuador Feminist Film Festival, after winning the IFCI competitive funds. “We understood that if we wanted to promote feminism, cinema was an incredible source of empathy, entertainment and discovery”says Arregui.

“We created this project because we believe in the power of cinema to generate social change and have social impact. Given the high rates of gender violence in this country, we felt it was necessary to have a film festival that promoted the rights of women, children and dissidents,” Sotomayor argues.

Since then, five years have passed since the first edition, with so many challenges, a pandemic, virtuality and other factors that have not stopped the management of this film meeting. “The festival has been consolidated through alliances, both between groups, feminist organizations and sponsors (…) It is too beautiful and satisfying to feel that when we stretch out our arms, there are people who grab us.”

They say reaching five years has been quite an achievement, and they look forward to seeing what happens in the future.

Challenges

The directors recognize that running a festival is a huge challenge. “That is true for all the people who do cultural management in the country”, they emphasize. This special festival takes place in collaboration with organizations, allies and institutions. “It’s difficult, but it’s very satisfying” They also mention the alliances that exist with alternative cinema halls, or cinemas in the country where they create satellite projections that allow them to reach different audiences. “All satellite locations receive a communication kit to communicate uniformly about the festival at their locations. They are all given certain guidelines to adhere to and we also hold meetings so that they feel that they are part of the festival and not just individual initiatives, but that we are all part of one whole.”

This year, for the first time, the events will take place in thirteen satellite locations, in twelve cities in the country Santa Cruz (Galapagos), San Francisco de Sigsipamba (Pimampiro), Riobamba and Machachi.

In Guayaquil, the satellite locations are Muégano Teatro and Alianza Francesa.

The personal screenings in Quito will take place at the Cinematheque of the House of Ecuadorian Culture, Park Urbano Cumandá, Casa Somos Roldós and Yaku Parque Water Museum. In Cuenca they will be present in the auditorium of the Alliance Française of Cuenca and in the Old Central School.

Through the Equis Foundation They do other activities throughout the year. “We no longer just organize the festival, but we also provide workshops… that are meaningful with the aim of promoting feminism through film.”

“We understood that if we wanted to promote feminism, cinema was an incredible source of empathy”

Equis Film Festival

Curatorial work

They complete an edition and soon start the search for the films that will appear on the billboard next year. The directors confirm that the mission is to bring together films that raise questions. “From this we choose the films, also thinking about what are the most current topics to talk about that year, in accordance with what is happening in Ecuador,” Sotomayor mentions.

In this way, the films shown at the festival address topics such as abortion, sex work, girls in science, trans women, eating disorders, self-esteem, social networks, the body, motherhood, the role of women in cinema, defenders of territory and nature , among other themes that empathize with social reality.

Facts

EQUIS will start next Tuesday, November 7, with the screening of daisy (Catalina Kulczar, USA, Hungary, 2022), a film in which the narrator undertakes a quest to investigate her Jewish origins and her family’s immigration history, after the death of her mother. This function will take place at Cumandá City Park in Quito at 7:00 PM. Free entrance.

This meeting will last until November 19. The performances at the official headquarters, Cinemateca de la Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, are from Wednesday to Sunday, with two daily performances at 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Tickets for this location cost $5 per screening, but you can also purchase the EQUIS Pass, which gives you access to all films for $20.

16 films will be shown via www.festivalequis.com. The entrance online It costs $5 and the purple pass costs $15, which gives you access to all the virtual movies. (JO)