Esther Az

The young Jimena searches for her identity. The film follows the life of the young woman with her mother and grandmother, white middle-class women, and the exchange of letters with her father, a foreign and black man, whom the young woman resembles. Seeking to free herself from the feeling of inadequacy, Jimena rewrites her family relationships and creates other ways of experiencing love, friendship and work ties. Through her eyes, the film considers questions about class, family, tradition, race and gender.

Zeca tries to get up early to catch the bus and arrive an hour and a half later at the neighboring town’s school, where he works as a librarian. Waking up early is evermore difficult: something prevents him from maintaining his routine. One day, Zeca meets Louisa.

Mãe D ́Água, which means “Mother from Water”, is a music video made as an all- women collective creation by Lou Pipa, Esther Az, and Bárbara Carnielle, during an art residency in a Zen Monastery called Morro da Vargem, in Ibiraçu, Espirito Santo, Brazil. The song evokes Iara, a mermaid from Indigenous Brazilian folklore who lives in the rivers, calling her healing cure by voice.