Colectivo Cine Mujer

The two women were later joined by other film students, including Guadalupe Sánchez, Ángeles Necoechea, Sonia Fritz, Eugenia (Maru) Tamés Mejía, María Novaro and María del Carmen de Lara. It was the first group in Mexico to include women in technical production roles such as screenwriting, directing, sound engineering, editing and cinematography. The collective’s filmmaking can be understood in two distinct periods: the first aligned with the idea that “the personal is political”, and the second focused on various processes of political, collective and activist organising—where the personal also became communal. 

The films from Colectivo Cine Mujer’s early period, spanning 1975 to 1981, reflected the concerns of second-wave feminism. They tackled issues such as the decriminalisation of abortion, as seen in Cosas de mujeres (1975-1978); the recognition of domestic labour, in Vicios en la cocina (1978); and sexuality and rape, in Rompiendo el silencio (1979). During this period, the collective engaged in a formal exploration aimed at challenging dominant visual conventions that cast womanhood as subordinate to the male gaze. The films examined the depiction of issues that continue to play a role in the systematic oppression of women even today—across cultural, medical and legal spheres. The figure of the housewife, for example, was portrayed as being shrouded in what Betty Friedan called “the feminine mystique” (¿Y si eres mujer?, 1977). In an interview with researcher Elena Oroz, Rosa Martha Fernández explained: “We strive to ensure that our contribution will dismantle these mechanisms […] and, to that end, we must unravel what appears to be ‘natural’ in its marginalisation.” 

The films of Colectivo Cine Mujer employed various “dismantling strategies”, both formally and narratively. One such strategy was the interplay between fiction and documentary. In Rompiendo el silencio, for instance, the testimonies of several women about rape are interwoven with the construction of a fictitious male rapist. Similarly, in Cosas de mujeres, a fictional female student gives way to a more documentary approach, situating abortion within a legal and medical framework for discussion. Through this crossing of constructed fiction and depicted reality, the collective’s filmmakers conducted research and gathered information with a sense of urgent mobilisation. This approach to “docufiction”, as Beatriz Mira calls it, became a hallmark of the group, setting them apart from later generations of filmmakers such as Maryse Sistach, Dana Rotberg and María Novaro, the latter of whom began her career with the collective. Another distinctive aspect of their filmmaking lies in how they not only explored the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction, but also incorporated animation, particularly the work of Guadalupe Sánchez. Animation was often used to bring to life material that transcended both imagination and factual data, such as the dreams of working women, like seeing the sea for the first time. 

Colectivo Cine Mujer went through a period of transformation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During this time, their collaboration with Cooperativa de Cine Marginal and Taller de Cine Octubre was particularly influential. Consequently, gender-based demands expanded to encompass class-based ones, and feminist struggles took on a more grassroots, popular character. Films from this period include Es primera vez (1981), Vida de ángel (1982), Yalaltecas (1983) and Bordando la frontera (1985). The featured footage was largely untouched, with the emphasis instead on the women’s personal accounts, their mobilisation and the urgency of the moment, marked in particular by the 1985 earthquake—one of the greatest tragedies in modern Mexican history. While Rosa Martha Fernández’s distinctive voice-over is absent from these films, other key elements remain, including popular music by La Sonora Matancera, the Yalalt Municipal Band and Violeta Parra.

Colectivo Cine Mujer’s formal exploration and dismantling strategies never exhausted the themes or forms of feminist film activism. After the group disbanded, each member continued to pursue feminist work, whether through political activism or issues of sexual diversity. However, no other collective in Mexican film history has brought together feminism and political activism in the same way. These films challenged how women were portrayed in Mexican cinema at the time, dominated by sexy comedies and auteur films whose artistic ambitions did little to subvert gender stereotypes. Colectivo Cine Mujer’s work reminds us that form, beyond subject matter, can be revolutionary in its own right. 

Members of Colectivo Cine Mujer often gathered for juntadas feministas—feminist meet-ups open not only to women from the film world but anyone interested in gender issues, including students, workers and housewives. These gatherings covered a wide range of topics, from pressing feminist concerns to subjects of particular interest to the filmmakers, such as community organising and social struggles. One notable outcome of these meetings was Vida de ángel, a film that documents the resistance and grassroots organising of a group of women in a neighbourhood in southern Mexico City.

The collective’s filmmaking process was characterised by a collaborative and horizontal approach with flexible, rotating roles throughout production. In Vida de ángel, for example, María Novaro conducted the initial research. Direction was shared between Ángeles Necoechea and Beatriz Mira, who also handled editing and cinematography and made key contributions to the animation, which was developed in collaboration with Guadalupe Sánchez. Sonia Fritz, who would later direct Yalaltecas, was responsible for sound. This collective way of working encouraged equal participation among members and fostered technical and creative learning for everyone involved.