Generations on stage, filming with Mbyá-Guarani women: the process of making Pará Reté

Abstract

In this article, I do a film analysis of two preliminary versions of an unfinished film by the indigenous filmmaker Guarani-Mbyá Patrícia Ferreira Pará Yxapy. The film, titled Pará Reté, is about her mother, daughter and grandmother. Even though unfinished, these work in progress cuts have already been shown in some exhibitions and festivals. Evoking Claudia Mesquita’s concept of “filme-proces-so” (“Process-film”), I trace how everyday life and intimacy are inseparable from the process of making this film, as it also points to one of the particularities of the cinema made by indigenous women. I intend to demonstrate the different circumstances, characteristics of Patrícia’s work and how her film happens along with life, in order to meditate on her filmmaking process based on the her relationships with the characters and her dialogue with the Vídeo nas Aldeias crew.