Film screening of The Heiresses (2018)

The Heiresses (original title in Spanish Las herederas) follows a couple of two middle-aged women as they venture financial stress, ultimately leading one of them to enter prison under fraud charges. But, in reality, it is a story abut Chela, played by Ana Brun, and how she overcomes economic and emotional turmoil to learn a new way of being herself in the world. The Heiresses is deeply intimate, yet political, and focuses on the stories that we are used to seeing relegated to a secondary role. Why are Chela and Chiquita (Chela’s partner) so in debt? How is Chiquita doing during her incarceration? How have they managed a thirty-year long relationship in an environment where they are afraid to openly show their love? Well, Marcelo Martinessi’s film will not give you an answer. But what makes this story so valuable, is that we don’t need to know.

The Heiresses premiered in the Berlin International Film Festival and was chosen to represent Paraguay for the Best International Feature Film category in the Academy Awards. Most importantly, the whole crew and their story, widely acclaimed for giving visibility to the LGBTQ+ community, were declared Predilect (Honorary) Sons and Daughters of the City of Asunción, Paraguay.