30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

Italian premiere

Doña Natividad Villafuerte, 94, keeps in her living room and  cares for the skull of Tomasa Ttito Condemayta, independence warrior, a rebel who fought with bare hands against the Spaniards who killed her in 1781. Many Quechua-speaking women worship the heroine's skull, which inspires them with courage, strength and determination. With devotion, the women leave any kind of sharp weapon at the base of the urn, hoping that their wishes will be granted. In 2021, Doña Natividad, who lives alone with her goat, also named Tomasa, opens the doors of her house in honour of the celebrations for the 240th anniversary of the warrior's death, all strictly female except for the orchestra. On this occasion, the director Marina Herrera captures portraits of women from a land, the Peruvian Andes province of Cuzco, where the historical-religious syncretism permeates the customs, the traditions are still very vivid, and where an ancient native language at risk of extinction is preserved. 

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  Marina Herrera

  A director of Spanish and Peruvian origins, she studied filmmaking in Lima and Creative Documentary at the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. She has directed experimental films such as A Yachaywasi, Correspondencia/Desmontaje, and co-scripted the web documentary VOSEDOC, which was awarded at IDFA in Amsterdam in 2015. Her latest short film Heroínas had its world premiere at the Berlinale in February 2022.