PAULINA

Vicky Funari
Canada, Mexico, USA 1997 | 88 Min. | 16 mm, OmeU

Pauli­na Cruz Suarez, now just turned 50, has worked as a maid in Mexico City since she was 15. She talks of her house­hold tasks and her cook­ing, until we see emerge the other Pauli­na, the child who was raped and reject­ed. Vicky Funari calls PAULINA a »non-fic­tion fea­ture film«. She mixes doc­u­men­tary shots and nar­ra­tive scenes, inter­weav­ing past and present. The result is the fas­ci­nat­ing por­tait of a woman who gave up all for taking con­trol of her destiny.

The direc­tor spent part of her child­hood in Mexico, where the future pro­tag­o­nist of PAULINA was her family’s maid. The film was born out of a visit to her child­hood home and a reunion with Paulina.