Cimarrona
'Cimarrona' explores the African spirituality alive in Ecuador, by portraying and documenting the women who save these ancestral practices. The Cimarrona refers to the wild female spirit, expressed in all forms of resistance against slavery and discrimination. Currently, about 8% of the country’s population are afro-Ecuadorians, from which almost 50% are women. Despite the migration to rural areas, spiritual expressions and celebrations are still keeping and reconfigured in each new territory.
Ghetto Dreamers
'Ghetto Dreamers' documents life in the overcrowded Ecuadorian prisons, as well as the impact on their families:
“Ecuador has an overpopulation of 79% in prisons, with a total of 41,000 prisoners in conditions of overcrowding and violation of human rights. (...) Commonly, prisons are located in remote areas, far from the center of the city. For inmate families, distance represents a big problem in terms of time and money. This system, along with unfavorable social and economic conditions, and extreme isolation policies such as the prohibition of written letters or photographs, call restrictions, and extreme body search for visitors, creates a hostile and emotionally fragile environment where both prisoners and family members endure the sentence without a rehabilitation and social reintegration process.”
