Director's statement:
The sexual guilt that’s ingrained in Latinas like me is extraordinarily difficult to overcome. Especially if you’re taught that a lusty “hook up” could land you in hell for eternity—like ANGELA, the protagonist of my short.
That wasn’t necessarily my case, but as soon as I got my first period, women in my family urged me to cover up and keep my legs closed. Because my reproductive organs had been activated, I suddenly had the potential to become a 12-year-old Jezebel.
Never mind that I had yet to be kissed.
At 14, I began questioning my faith.
By 18, I was agnostic.
Even so, it took many years to shed the guilt I felt concerning sex. For decades, I was torn between my modern-day libido and the Catholic beliefs imposed on me as a girl.
This inner conflict is the inspiration for my short, OUR LADY OF SHAME.
This film is needed because even in 2025, there’s still a double standard when it comes to sexuality. A short like mine could help relieve the disproportionate pressure placed on women to remain chaste. Because if you can make people open their mouths to laugh, then maybe you could also get them to open up their hearts and minds, too.
Tone wise, OUR LADY OF SHAME is a snarky satire with a dose of magical realism, like Tomás Gómez Bustillo’s CHRONICLES OF A WANDERING SAINT.
The intended visual style is whimsical with a saturated color palette to create a dreamlike vibe, similar to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s AMÉLIE.
The end product should feel like a stylized ANNIE HALL –nervous, inappropriate, funny, and with a way less problematic director.
