The making of the short film "C(elas): maternity, feminist theory and the prison system in Brazil"

Abstract

The objective of this proposal is to deal with the realization process of the short film Cages, a documentary that deals with the relationship between motherhood and the female prison system in Brazil, based on the experience and the encounter between a set team consisting exclusively of women, in order to address an important theme for feminist theory, maternity, in a specific environment: the nursery of the Feminine Penitentiary of Cariacica, located in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The documentary was scripted and directed by me. The film was built from this meeting between women, especially from their conversations. For the movie crew, listening to what pregnant women and/or with new born children was the main action – what did these women in detention have to say? The data that drove the writing of the plot and the film project was the alarming and continuous growth of the female population in Brazilian prisons in the last fifteen years, which was 567.4%.