Re-presentations of a People of the South: A Mapuche Film Cycle
First screening: Ancient Memories in Motion

ANCIENT MEMORIES IN MOTION

Date and time: December 2, 7 pm
Venue: Cine Doré, room 2, Madrid
Admission: Tickets available at the box office until capacity is reached. 10% of the venue’s capacity is reserved for visitors wishing to attend without an advance ticket on the day of the event.
Recommended age: All ages
Language: Original version with Spanish subtitles
Screening duration: 1 hour 36 minutes, plus a 20-minute introduction

The screening will be introduced by Ange Cayuman, curator of the cycle.

CULPA (2023), 9 min, by Seba Calfuqueo

Synopsis: This work explores the relationships surrounding the colonization of Ngulumapu, Mapuche territory annexed by what is now Chile, and its impact on the degradation of the natural environment. Through the artist’s body, accompanied by a written narrative, the work exposes the history of dispossession inflicted on the Mapuche people by the Chilean state. It focuses in particular on the military occupation that took place between 1851 and 1883, historically referred to by the euphemistic term “Pacification of Araucanía”.

Format: Video animation

CAUTÍN, PRIMER PASO (1971), 12 min, by Rubén Ubeira

Synopsis: The film portrays life in the Cautín community, whose population is predominantly Mapuche, living in poverty and economic marginalization as a result of the land dispossession that has taken place over the past century. Through the agrarian reform program implemented by the Popular Unity government, the film explores efforts to change these conditions and recognize the historical significance of this Indigenous people.

Language: Spanish with Spanish subtitles
Format: Short film

FERNANDO Y SU GATO (2024), 7 min, by Ange Cayuman

Synopsis: Fernando Huaiquil was a child living in a settlement in Galvarino, in Cautín Province, at the time of the Chilean coup d’état. In the film, he vividly recalls an image of himself carrying his cat as he joined a caravan of people and animals forced to leave their homes after being evicted by the military and made to move in with his grandparents. Through memory and an emotionally charged account, the film journeys back to this historic territory.

Language: Spanish
Format: Short film
 

MARICHI TUKULPAN (2024), 68 min, by Paula Rodríguez Sickert

Synopsis: Margarita Canío Llanquinao, a young Mapuche academic, discovers in an archive in Berlin the testimonies of Mapuche prisoners deported from their territories during the military invasions that led to the founding of Argentina and Chile. Deeply moved by this discovery, she embarks on a journey to trace the deportation routes of her ancestors.

Language: Spanish and Mapudungun, with Spanish subtitles
Format: Documentary

Ange Cayuman is a Mapuche writer, journalist and audiovisual artist whose work focuses on film programming, audience engagement and audiovisual curation, with a particular interest in Indigenous archives, the diaspora of Indigenous Peoples and ancestral communities’ self-representations. Cayuman is a member of the Rangiñtulewfü collective and has been part of the programming team at FICWallmapu (Wallmapu International Indigenous Film Festival).

Sebastiana (Seba) Calfuqueo is a trans Mapuche artist whose practice challenges the dominant narratives shaped by colonial processes and their effects on contemporary Indigenous and Western societies. She is a curator at Espacio218 and a member of the Mapuche collective Rangiñtulewfü and the magazine Yene. Her work was recently recognized with the Focus Stand Prize at Frieze New York 2026. Calfuqueo has received extensive international recognition, including the Cuervo Prize at Zona Maco (2024), awards from the Ama Amoedo Foundation (2024) and the FAVA Foundation (2018), and the Eyebeam Fractal Fellowship Program (2020). She has participated as a guest artist in the Venice Biennale (2024), the Whitney Biennial (2024), the São Paulo Biennial (2021), the Mercosur Biennial (2020) and the Paiz Art Biennial (2020 and 2025). Her work is held in major international collections, including Tate Modern (United Kingdom), Center Pompidou (France), Denver Art Museum (United States), Museo MALBA (Argentina), TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, KADIST Collection (France), Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Chile) and MAC (Chile).