SEARCHING HELENY

Heleny Guariba, philosopher, professor and theatre director disappeared in 1971 under the Brazilian dictatorship. The stitched and animated memories of her loved ones reveal us what could not be told in words.

ESTHER VITAL GARCÍA Psychologist and textile artist. Since 2008, she researches arpilleras, three-dimensional appliquéd tapestries that originated in Chile and became the medium for women, generally working collectively, to denounce the human rights abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship. She has contributed to disseminate arpilleras as a mean of expression and confrontation under violent and oppressive circumstances in Spain, Palestine, and Brazil. Searching Heleny is her first film and an attempt to adapt this ancestral and subversive and language to speak about traumatic issues such as torture, kidnapping and disappearance.