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Alexandra Henao's MI TÍA GILMA Presented at the 22nd FICM

Daniel Hernández

Mi tía Gilma (2023), by Alexandra Henao, winner of the Yellow Robin Award at the last Curaçao International Film Festival, was presented at the 22nd edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM).

The presentation was made by the film's director; Beto Benites, producer of the film; and Gregory and Michael Elias, founders of the Curacao International Film Festival Rotterdam (CIFFR).

During his presentation, Michael Elias thanked Daniela Michel for all the support given to CIFFR, as it expanded into international horizons: “Since 2012 she contacted our festival and encouraged us to broaden our vision and present international films as FICM does."

For her part, Alexandra Henao expressed her gratitude for being at the festival and screening this film: “It is an honor for me to be at this festival, which is so diverse, so big and so iconic. This film was born out of wanting to tell the world things that are happening to us in Venezuela,” she said before the screening.

The film tells the story of Isabel, a 13-year-old who takes care of her aunt Gilma, who was admitted to a hospital in Caracas after being beaten by her partner. In the midst of the chaos that surrounds them, Isabel will do anything to save her aunt and keep a promise.

During the interaction with the audience, Henao revealed that the story is based on her personal experiences: “Isabel's character is based my experience with an aunt and my mother, both of whom I had to take care of at a young age.”

She also revealed Isabela, the protagonist of the story, is played by her daughter. This made the filming process much easier because there was a deep knowledge of each other.

Beto Benites, on the other hand, talked of the challenges of making this project: “We had to film without any permission, so we had to use different strategies like finding people who would let us film in the different spaces."

He also added that the scenes of protests are real, and to film them they had to stay alert so they could go out and film them with the most basic technical equipment, with a crew of six people.

Finally, Henao talked about a fictional continuation of the film that left all the spectators moved: “Isabela went to France, but returned to set up a perfume factory that she sells in Venezuela because she arrived in a new, prosperous and free Venezuela”, he concluded.