When Maria-José Araujo began researching topics for her final graduation project at Quest University, she stumbled upon an online newspaper image of the sole female survivor of the 1981 massacre in El Salvador.
Nine hundred other people died.
The woman featured in the portrait watched her entire village and her own family murdered over two days. The image burned into Araujo’s mind, she says, especially having been born and raised in El Salvador.
“This portrait was described as the universal portrait of Salvadoran mothers and that description moved me a lot,” says Araujo, who began wondering how different — if at all — it really was for women in that country today.
The 21-year-old student worked four jobs over the summer to save enough money to return to El Salvador this winter and film a documentary about what it means to be a woman in a highly sexist and violent society. But she still didn’t have enough cash for the trip.
A friend suggested also crowdfunding and the project launched last week through Indiegogo.com.
“The topic is urgent. I know the language and I know the culture,” says Araujo, who had dreamed of coming to Quest University since the Grade 9 because of its unique keystone program.
“I felt like these stories have always existed throughout history and they’ve just been captured and not given enough space,” she explains.
Araujo’s goal is to raise $2,500 by early January. The funding will help buy equipment such as a portable camera and help cover travel costs.
The film isn’t titled as of yet. She wants to collect the stories first, however, the fundraising campaign is called Testimonies of Resilience of Women of El Salvador. Araujo plans to fly to El Salvador at the end of the month and return in February with a detailed schedule of how, whom and where she will film.
“It has to be face-to-face interviews that will be recorded and form the narrative of the film,” she says.
The fundraising website opens with alarming facts about violence against women in El Salvador and claims the law system leaves most cases unresolved despite the government’s commitment to equality.
“It is the third highest in the world when it comes to femicide, which is murder on account of gender,” Araujo says.
Recognizing her audience will mostly be Canadian, she hopes to connect the viewer to the reality of people different from them.
“I want to humanize them and get people to see them as more than victims,” she says, adding she wants to present the women as whole people.
“That includes all those intimate and personal details of their lives,” she says. “It reinforces the idea that this could be anyone.”
Supporterss can donate to Araujo’s documentary until Jan. 7, 2018 at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/testimonies-of-resilience-women-in-el-salvador-film#/
