Arisleyda Dilone, Director - Screening of Mami y Yo y Mi Gallito

This screening of the 16-minute documentary short Mami y Yo y Mi Gallito (Mom and Me and My Little Rooster) is part of the course Introduction to Latino/a Literature in the United States. The course provides an introduction to Latinx literatures and cultures in the United States from 1960 to the present, paying close attention to the historical and social events that have influenced the construction of U.S. Latinx identities as a field within American Studies. Through the examination of canonical texts produced in English, Spanish and Spanglish we will analyze questions of racial, ethnic, sexual, and cultural identities in conversation with current theoretical concepts such as Diaspora, border identities, code-switching, triple-consciousness, intersectionality.

Discussant: Lorgia García Peña, Roy G. Clouse Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of History and Literature

Synopsis: For the past five years, Aris, the filmmaker has been pestering her mom to talk to her about her childhood, her body and past and pending surgical decisions: all in front of a camera. In Mami y Yo y Mi Gallito Aris and her mother finally sit down to talk about her body as a hermaphrodite.

Hispanic Cultures Seminar, Mahindra Humanities Center

http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/screening-emmami-y-yo-y-mi-gallitoem

Festivals/Exhibitions

Queer Art Film Exhibition-Leslie Lohman Museum
“Beloved Martina...” An exhibition at Mercer Union, Toronto
Official Selection, New Orleans Film Festival 2016
UnionDocs: Documentary Art Center, 2016
MixNYC, 2017

Director Statement

In making films I've set out to heal something inside of me. A rupture. My life’s work is to document pinnacle moments in my life and in my family. Through documentary filmmaking I create a space for participation and provide a stage for visual representation that aims to sharply interrupt generational cycles of trauma and/or simply highlight our existence.

I decided to first tell my story about my intersex body in relation to womanhood as defined by family.

Director's Biography

Arisleyda Dilone is a writer, actor and filmmaker. She makes intimate film work about her life and her family.

She was a 2012 Jerome Foundation-Travel and Study Grant Fellow, a 2014 UnionDocs Collaborative Fellow and a 2015 Queer Art/Mentorship Fellow, in which she completed the short film: Mami y Yo y Mi Gallito /Mom and Me and My Little Rooster. She was awarded a 2015 Astraea Intersex Fund Grant.

Arisleyda is a member of Diverse Filmmakers Alliance, Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and Ay Ombe Theater.