In Argentina, 7 out of 10 mothers do not receive the food quota. What happens to the lives of mothers when parents do not fulfill their maintenance obligation? Single parent portrays the patriarchal economic violence and the legal career of a mother, Ornella, who tries to “get life ahead with her son, crossed by the economic violence of a debtor parent and a slow and patriarchal judicial system.”
The short was part of the productions of the Postgraduate in Contemporary Documentary 2023-2024, a course carried out jointly by the Hugo del Carril Municipal Cineclub and the Blas Pascal University. In this note, we speak with the team that developed the project: Ornella Natacha Iriel Falkiewicz (director and protagonist of the short), Matías Federico Colantti (production), Dario Palmero (edition) and Carlos Zorrilla (photography direction), to learn more about the cuisine of Córdoba audiovisual work.
—Tell us about the title, “Monomarental”…
—The title is a dispute of political meaning. A proposal for symbolic deconstruction. The term that is installed is “single-parent” to name that family that is made up of a single parent (father or mother), and one or more children. That the title is “Monomarental” seeks to directly address the alarming problem we have in our country. In Argentina, 7 out of 10 single-person households are headed by women. Clearly, The evident presence of mothers in the upbringing and life development of their children and the home invites us to reflect on their role and what must be redefined when talking about single parenthood.
—What was the motivation for making the short?
—The main motivation comes from putting together a project called “Bad Mother.” The name comes from an audiovisual play (which premiered in 2021) and is also directed and starring Ornella Falkiewicz. The work talks about the social discourses that have been formed around the concept of motherhood. After that, the director begins to think about how to approach her next project where she wanted to directly target economic violence. “Monomarental” is born there, where The motivation is his own biography, the events that have developed throughout his life, focused on art, to make visible, to denounce, to weave networks, to talk about these issues in which there is still much to do and rethink as a society. .
—How did you resolve the conjunction between fiction and documentary (non-fiction)? What challenges did you encounter and how did you resolve them?
—It was one of the moments with the most doubts and debates at the beginning of the process. From the beginning of the project, the narrative proposal was proposed as a recreation of moments in the protagonist’s life. This meant that fiction was the only way to construct the story.
The training path helped a lot because, in some theoretical classes, authors who raised the discussion where the border between fiction and non-fiction is sometimes not so clear and not decisive when approaching a documentary were reviewed. After going through these approaches, finally, the resource of fictionalization ended up being the most representative way of telling the story. Likewise, The short film places emphasis on the sound archive of the lawyer’s character as an element of the documentary: that archive was part of the real material that allowed a large part of the story to be structured.
—As the short progresses, we viewers encounter the protagonist’s overwhelm. How did you think about the construction of that state and what elements did you put to work to achieve it?
—It was always one of the objectives to achieve. When the story was presented, we wanted it to feel overwhelming, tense and uncomfortable atmosphere. In some way, the message of the short is to make people uncomfortable and move the heartstrings. The protagonist lived that and that experience of many emotional climates was wanted to be transmitted, where mainly she felt the burden of having to face economic violence every day and a justice system that only wants you to wear out and give up.
—Without a doubt, the short tries to make visible the problem of economic violence and the overwhelming legal career that many mothers experience. What effect do you expect on the viewer?
—»Monomarental» aims to make visible something that is naturalized and that even, generally, seems invisible. Although there is progress, yes, the statistics are overwhelming and the situation is getting worse.
Look Single parent here. The short will be available for one week.
*By Editorial La ink / Cover image: «Single-parental» frame.
Keywords: Córdoba Cinema, Hugo del Carril Municipal Cineclub
