London Feminist Film Festival / OutFest Perú 2020 – Cárceles bolleras: resistencias de las mujeres tras las rejas (Dykes Jails: Women's resistances behind bars)
Cárceles Bolleras (Dyke Jails) shows women’s gender discrimination in prisons and how lesbian desire could be a kind of resistance against the penitentiary institution. In prison, some women discover other forms of sexuality that represent a space of freedom.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer/Editor Cecilia Montagut
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Some time ago, the researcher Raquel Osborne and I had in mind to make a documentary about lesbian relationships in prison based on the testimonies of female political prisoners under the dictatorship of Franco.
As a result of Fefa Vila's offer to participate in the Madrid World Pride 2017 cultural program, the idea took shape. We proposed the researcher, Estibaliz de Miguel, to collaborate with us and we started working on this project.
Our starting point was that prison is a favorable scenario for the transformation of desire. In this context, some women discover other types of sexuality that represent a space of freedom and that can also be a form of resistance to a heteropatriarchal institution such as prison.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Prison themes are very frequent in films. We’re used to seeing violence and forced sexual relations in men's prisons but we don't know anything about a very different reality: the erotic-affective relationships between women in prison, which are very often satisfactory.
I believe that it is important to learn about the reality of women inmates, who are more discriminated in comparison to men, and to highlight the different strategies and complicities that take place in order to face the harsh reality of prisons.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
For a long time, my work has revolved around the issue of non-normative sexualities and gender discrimination. These are the main topics of Cárceles Bolleras (Dyke Jails). Although the documentary shows the situation of women in Spain and Argentina’s prisons, I would venture to say that the aspects shown in the documentary happen as well in any prison worldwide with the particularity of each place.
Moreover, the prison reproduces and magnifies the situation of women outside. For that and as mentioned by one of the main characters these are issues that should be on the agenda of feminism in order to defend the rights of all women.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Our starting point was to ask ourselves about affective and sexual relationships between women in prisons. The first thing we had to do was to look for women in different parts of Spain who had been in prison and wanted to give us their testimony. This was key because we wanted to have a general overview of what is happening in these places. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter the prisons. However, the date for the release of the documentary was already set even before we started making it and thus, we only had seven months to research, shoot and edit the documentary.
This forced us to do the researching and shooting at the same time, without being able to have a script or pre-production beforehand.
Furthermore, while we were doing the interviews, the gender discrimination that women suffer in prison was raised up in a very visible way, This made us think that non-normative relationships in prison could also be a way of resistance against the attempt of "feminizing" women inmates.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Cárceles Bolleras has been screened at many festivals around the world and has been very well received.
Most people say they did not know about gender discrimination in prison. Therefore, it was a discovery for them and very often they wanted to know more about this issue.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
On occasion, the public has questioned me for not having emphasized enough the injustice of prisons in general. I have had to explain that my intention was not to question the penitentiary institution as a whole, I think there is a lot of activism that deals with this issue. My intention is to make the situation of women visible within this problem. By questioning that I have not shown the problem of prisons in general, women are once again becoming invisible. We are always the forgotten ones.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
The times we are living in 2020 are exceptional. We don't know how the festivals and theatrical screenings will continue or how the VOD platforms will be reorganized. One way to make ourselves known is through initiatives such as www.wearemovingstories.com.
I am grateful to be able to share my documentary Cárceles Bolleras with as many people as possible and raise awareness of some of the issues that women go through in prison.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I would be interested in contacting sales agents, buyers, distributors, festival directors and journalists to try to amplify the message of my documentary so more people get to know the situation of women in prison. I would also welcome any initiative aiming to screen the film into schools to raise awareness of the discrimination suffered by women in such a harsh environment as it is the prison.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Women inside prisons suffer a double punishment: for being incarcerated and for being women. When they get out, they have a greater stigma than men. The goal of Cárceles Bolleras is to raise awareness of this situation and to help fighting gender discrimination.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
One of the key questions could be why do prison directors in Spain want a women's module inside men's prisons.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am doing research on the situation of sex workers in Spain. This group suffers particularly with gender discrimination and there is a high number of LGBT+ people.
Interview: May 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Cárceles bolleras: resistencias de las mujeres tras las rejas (Dykes Jails: Women's resistances behind bars)
Cárceles Bolleras (Dyke Jails) shows women’s gender discrimination in prisons and how lesbian desire could be a kind of resistance against the penitentiary institution. In prison, some women discover other forms of sexuality that represent a space of freedom.
Length: 1:06:00
Director: Cecilia Montagut
Producer: Cecilia Montagut
Writer: Cecilia Montagut
About the writer, director and producer:
CECILIA MONTAGUT was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied filmmaking at IDAC and graduated in Psychology at the Buenos Aires University. Since her first films, she has explored the diffused borderline between heteronormativity and non-normative sexualities as well as the ways in which new technologies affect human relationships. In her documentary films, she continues to show different aspects of the heteropatriarchy and how women seek strategies of dissidence.
Key cast: Andrea Noemí Vera, Dolores Juliano, Concha Yagüe, Mar Sánchez, Katia Reimberg, Marta Dillon, Estibaliz de Miguel, Ana María Bruña, Inés Herrero Riesgo, María Ruíz Torrado, Raquel Osborne, Pedro Montagut, Roser Rius Camps, David Urra, Silvia Reyes, María Jesús Lastra, Lucas Platero.
Looking for: sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists, producers
Facebook: Cecilia Montagut
Instagram: @cecilia_montagut
Hashtags used: #gender #feminism #women #humanrights #queer #lgbti #lgtbi #prison #social
Website: carcelesbolleras.wixsite.com/carcelesbolleras/documentary
Other: YouTube
Made in association with: Raquel Osborne
Funders: Self-funded with colaboration Ayuntamiento de Madrid
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? We are in lockdown. The next festivals where the documentary was to be screened have been cancelled.