Guerrilleras is a documentary film and photography project about the Salvadoran Civil War from a gender perspective: the female experience within the anti-government Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrilla forces.

Through intimate testimonies collected twenty years after the end of the war, this visual essay aims to preserve a historical memory of these women, weaving personal memories into a collective experience.

Directed and produced by Rebecka Bíró & Victoria Montero.

Awards

FotoPres

Photography project Guerrilleras was awarded in the 19º edition of FotoPres contest, organized by La Caixa Foundation in Spain.

Olof Palme Foundation

Documentary film project Guerrilleras awarded under the Olof Palme Memorial Fund for International Understanding and Common Security in Sweden.

The Book

Guerrilleras. Tradition and Rebellion in the Salvadoran Civil War is a documentary photo-book that compiles original photography with the testimonies of five former guerrilla women from rural regions of El Salvador, such as Chalatenango, Morazán, and Guazapa. Prologue by former guerrilla fighter Morena Herrera, Salvadoran social activist, noted for her work against the ban on abortion.
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The Film

Guerrilleras is a documentary film about the Salvadoran Civil War from a feminist perspective: the female experience within the anti-government Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrilla forces. The film presents a historical moment of struggle, hope, and love within the revolutionary movement—ultimately unveiling the impact that the war had on women in a pronounced patriarchal social structure. The following video was done as part of the pre-production research. Guerrilleras is currently on post-production stage and was selected for the 2020 BAVC Mediamaker Fellowship.

The Exhibition

Guerrilleras was presented at FotoPres exhibition in Madrid, Barcelona, and Zaragoza (Spain) in 2015/2016. It was also part of "Faces, Spaces, and Genres" at Acción Latina gallery (San Francisco, CA), in 2016. In 2017 was exhibited at the Community Media Center of Marin (San Rafael, CA) as a solo show, as well as in the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (San Francisco, CA) in 2018.

"In one way or another, traumas may still be hurting us. I’m here at home, an A-37 flies by and it’s like going back to that time: I expect bombs to fall down. I still have nightmares, it’s exactly the same picture as if I were back in 1985 in the middle of the war."

“Altagracia” - Former combatant and political leader