Paz Encina, the only film director to emerge from Paraguay in recent times, is screening her two features and some shorts at MoMA Friday-Sunday, February 10-12, 2017. She will introduce the Friday and Saturday screenings.
About Paz Encina
Encina was born in Asuncion, Paraguay on July 9, 1971.
National cinema says a lot about a country’s character, and where it is at in its development. Encina’s work breaks Paraguay’s long silence to begin the process of dealing with the impact of dictatorship on the landlocked South American country.
Paraguayan Hammock
Her first feature Paraguayan Hammock (Hamaca paraguaya, 2006) earned an International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award at Cannes.
The story is written in Guaraní, Paraguay’s native language, with English subtitles. It is about two peasants in the forest who set up their hammock and live their lives every day hoping and worrying about whether their son will return from a war. Encina makes the little things in life say a lot.
Memory Exercises
EJERCICIOS DE MEMORIA. TRAILER. from Paz Encina.
Encina’s second feature, Memory Exercises (Ejercicios de Memoria, 2016) is an experimental documentary built around the Stroessner dictatorship’s (1954-1989) “Archives of Terror.” The film examines the impact of decades of state terror and wonders how a society can process such a heavy past.
Encina is the University of California Regents’ Lecturer of 2017. She is making the rounds through U.S. film academia.
Paz Encina in New York City
Paz Encina is screening and introducing her feature films Ejercicios de memoria (Memory Exercises, 2016) on Friday, February 10, 2017 at 6:15pm, and Hamaca Paraguaya (Paraguayan Hammock, 2006) on Saturday, February 11, 2017 16 5pm.
The image is a still from Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), courtesy of the artist via MoMA.
To learn more about the artist, visit www.vimeo.com/user7170507