Araya was shown at the Cinematheque to an audience that had been motivated beforehand by its director, Margot Benacerraf.

By Johan Mijail Castillo

Who says documentaries have to just be narrative stories? This is what Venezuelan Director Margot Benacerraf asked the viewers who came to see her film Araya on the second night of the screening of her documentary at the Dominican Cinematheque on Friday November 20th.

The activity got underway at 7:00 pm when director Benacerraf brought the audience to their feet with applause after she spoke. “Araya is poetry, not a documentary. It is the live representation of a community that has existed in oblivion and where the most complete stories of human dignity abound,” the filmmaker told her audience.

Before the film began, the audience was anxious about the documentary as they spoke among themselves. The film had won the Cannes International Critics Prize in 1959 which gave an idea of what awaited them. In addition, they all knew about Benacerraf who is acclaimed as a forerunner of feminist Latina cinema and, according to the director of the Cinematheque, “is one of the founders of film archives on this side of the world and she is a pioneer in of film archiving in her own country of Venezuela.”   

Throughout the film’s 82 minutes, the audience laughed at times as they intently watched the film which is full of dramatic scenes, with strong and realistic images. The film portrays a day in the life of three families in Araya who cannot see beyond the horizon; their only choices are to be fishermen, work in the salt collection or, in the case of women, be housewives.

Once the film was ended, the floor was open to audience questions. Ms. Benacerraf responded to each one and asked people to continue supporting such important initiatives and the Dominican Global Film Festival.

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