Primas: the embodiment of collectivity

With the rise of feminism throughout the last century, art has been reappropriated by women as a fearless weapon that exposes, questions and deconstructs patriarchy, individualism and capitalism. The experimentation and reformation of every artistic tradition and convention (sometimes leading to a point of complete decimation) has become a common mindset amongst authors and artists fighting gender violence and repression. For many decades, collective radicality has been explored and enhanced on every creative discipline, including filmmaking. Such is the case for Primas. The film of Argentinean director Laura Bari reflects upon her role behind the camera as a position that can open spaces for dialogue, and reconsiders the possibility of constructing a collaborative project along with her subjects. One might argue that with Primas, Bari achieved a documentary that isn’t solely constituted by her voice.

The director’s relationship with her subjects appears to be the starting point for a project centered around collective catharsis. Laura Bari is the aunt of protagonists, Rocío and Aldana, both young women who were victims of sexual violence at different instances in their lives. For many years, distance and silence prevented the girls from directly supporting each other —that is until Primas began production. The documentary turned into a bonding opportunity for the distant cousins, as Bari explains in her interview for Hot Docs (2018), “I was already filming Rocío when Aldana, 16 years old — my brother’s daughter — told me that she was sexually abused by her father. She asked me then to bring her to Rocío’s town”. Aldana’s request derived in a 15 minute shot that listens (indeed, I’m talking about a shot that listens!) to both girls sharing for the very first time their painful memories with each other.

Although Primas keeps an observative mode of documentary during most of its runtime, the conversation between Rocío and Aldana embraces a completely reflexive approach. Bari isn’t just following her nieces; instead, as her aunt and as a director, she is gradually constructing events of their lives. Primas shows a quiet awareness of the filmmaking process on the previously highlighted 15 minute shot. Bari refuses to represent the girl’s experiences anyway but through the cousins’ affectional meeting. She keeps all eyes on the reality she constructed rather than explaining or representing memories or testimonies. By not acknowledging the camera nor the filmmaker behind it, Primas is exposing its own manipulation on the reality it portrays. The film might deal with the past, but it is truly focused on the present shaped by the nature of documentary itself.

In addition, the indirect relationship of the characters with the camera is perceived as a subversion to specific representations of trauma in popular culture. Through this formal element, Primas keeps its distance with numerous narratives that approach gender violence with self-righteousness or as means for entertainment. “Primas también desmantela la representación convencional de los testimonios de las mujeres porque no hace énfasis en el trauma de manera alarmista; está filmado desde la comprensión y el apoyo sororo”, writes Karina Solórzano for Correspondencias (2020). In that sense, the unacknowledgement of the camera inspires a genuine interaction between Rocío and Aldana, but most of all, it emphasizes the trait of listening to others in every space for supportive and caring dialogue. Ideally, Primas is for the girls, not for us, the audience.

However, the collective approach on catharsis doesn’t end in representation. The formal decisions in the second half of Primas are permeated by an array of different voices. As part of her construction and development of reality, Bari invites her nieces to an artistic workshop in Canada. Consequently, the creative choices each of them make during the trip have direct influence on the aesthetic outcome of the documentary. Perhaps the most evocative example is Aldana’s raging monologue on the crushing social expectations forced on women. Through this piece, she expresses all the nuances of her reality —Aldana suddenly has as much control over the documentary as her aunt and director. If this film is indeed centered around healing trauma and moving on together, then Bari designed a structure that allows the girls to decide how the images of this journey look like. By being transparent about the reality it frames as a documentary, Primas grants Rocío and Aldana complete agency over their stories.

At the heart of Primas remains an open acknowledgement of documentary as a structure with an usually discrete control over reality. By giving up on an universally empty sense of objectivity and recognizing its inherent rearrangement of “truth”, cinema assumes its role as a catalyst for us, the unseen. Laura Bari’s film reminds me of Yolanda Segura’s essay Otro Modo Que No Se Llame (2019), “Un cuerpo de mujer que escribe es un cuerpo que se pone entre las voces, en un lugar sobre el que no reclama propiedad pero lo constituye y desde el cual es capaz de articular”. Primas is exactly that, the embodiment of collectivity.

Film Title: Primas

Country and year: Canada, 2017

Director: Laura Bari

Script: Laura Bari

Photography: Laura Bari, Glauco Bermúdez

Length: 99 minutes

Production: Besofilm, GreenGround Productions

Bibliography

Bari, L. (2017). Primas [Film]. Canada: GreenGround Productions.

Jauregui, G., Segura, Y., et al. (2019). Tsunami. Madrid: Sexto Piso.

Solórzano, K. (2020). QUEBECINE 2020: Primas de Laura Bari | Correspondencias. Retrieved 4 September 2020, from http://correspondenciascine.com/2020/02/quebecine-2020-primas-de-laura-bari/

Willard, S. (2018). Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Bari — “Primas”. Retrieved 4 September 2020, from https://womenandhollywood.com/hot-docs-2018-women-directors-meet-laura-bari-pri mas-c62bc551f3f/