To live in the Borderlands means…
With this question from a poem by Gloria Anzaldúa, this film began as a process of reflection based on the last dance by Amanda Piña, Danza y Frontera.
I listen to the experiences of the dancers who talk about their life on the border. I see their bodies dance and I wonder, for me what does living in the border mean?
For me living in the border is to live in the midst of a society that does not care about your voice, and still strive to be heard.
It is having to deal with the worldwide fascination for Pablo Escobar, while the pain tears you apart once again, as in your childhood, because of the genocide of social leaders who resist the continuing colonization of capitalism.
It is to lie down in the hole you have made under the bed, waiting for the gun fire between the army and the guerrilla to stop.
It is to remember with nostalgia the jungle where you played, converted first into coca cultivation, then into a war field, and at last into a palm oil desert.
It is to live on an island in the Caribbean disputed by two states, while you watch the coca shipments go by and the tourists coming to roast in the sun.
It is knowing and accepting yourself vulnerable as a permanent resistance exercise.
Susana Ojeda, March 2019