The Swirl (2016)

• 69%
• 2016
• Documentary

El Remolino (The Swirl) is a creation documentary on outstanding characters stuck in the most flooded region in Mexico: Esther, the brave mother of three children; and Pedro, her farmer brother. Their lives oscillate between defending their ways of understanding gender identity and their role in the community; and their everyday rural lives that have become increasingly affected by flooding due to climate change. People of water and earth, they will guide us through their reflections and coexistence throughout a year in nature's cycles.Guiding the documentary's cyclic narrative are Esther, whose hand-held camera is integrated into the narrative; and her brother Pedro, who represents the element of change and open-mindedness linked to his sexual identity. We follow them through their personal universes, uncovering their brave way of life and their visions on love, family, education and memory. Above all else, The Swirl is a tribute to the feminine identities that are configuring our contemporary world.The group of characters is completed by Dana, Esther's youngest daughter, who concentrates her mother's effort to change the situation of rural women in Mexico; and Edelio, Esther and Pedro's father, who represents conservationism, tradition and resistance to change.These reflections take place in a remote and isolated farming community of 180 inhabitants on the banks of the Usumacinta River, in Chiapas, Mexico. They help us understand that gender identities are being built on every corner of the planet, and that the confusing thoughts on the future of a community coexist in a dialogue that echoes out to many situations currently unfolding in the world. A micro-cosmos that pours out on a larger scale.