La Cigarra

Full HD Video 7'56''

-Eye Film Institute, Amsterdam The Netherlands.

-Netherlands Film Festival, Utrecht The Netherlands.

-Kasseler Doc Fest, Kassel Germany.

 

'The cicada is an insect singing during the siestas, especially in a hot southern summer'. This work reflects on displacement of identity and the role of memory when a person lives abroad. To get to this feeling I decided to work with my personal experience as an immigrant in The Netherlands. I have been living in Amsterdam for seven years, however, two years ago I have decided to travel to Argentina to see my family. When I arrived to Argentina and visited my grandmother I have decided to make a video portrait of her that later I titled “La Profesora”. At that time I had the feeling it would be the last time to see her in person, and unfortunately this is exactly what happened. She passed away the 15th of June in 2015 at the age of 90. A year later, in April, I decided to go back to my country and yet I found her house, our house, empty. It did not matter that all furnitures and all personal belongings were kept the same way , the house still seemed empty to me. I was immersed in those memories that allowed me to ask whether a person who lives abroad is living the reality or rather the fiction generated by its on memories in order to replace the time of absence.