Educational Media Reviews Online

Your Mother’s Comfort is a Brazilian filmed documentary, filmed during 2016-2019 prior to the incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro’s election. This documentary follows Indianara Siqueira, a controversial trans-activist/leader, politician and former sex worker. In 2016, Siqueria had successfully ran for Rio de Janeiro’s city council with the slogan, “A Whore for City Council.” Her campaigning and advocacy for and with the LGBTQ+ community is prominent.

In the middle of city, is the Nem House, a homeless shelter and community center for LGBTQ residents and trans-sex workers. Siqueria is the house’s mother and leader. Jair Bolsonaro had openly and vehemently denied the rights of the Brazilian LGBTQ+ community; there has been an increase spike in violence for the transsexual community. The Nem House is regarded as a safe haven but has been facing eviction notices. As a way to fight and save the Nem House, Siqueria went and occupied another deserted yet government owned palace as a way to bargain with the city. This occupation was left at having no clear resolution as the Siqueria and her group continued to live with the current times.

The strengths of this documentary are the clear visibility of a viable transsexual community and video documentation of the strong oppression this community faces as they live within their country and society. This documentary also features people within Brazil’s socialist party, including the late Marielle Franco, an outspoken critic and feminist activist. This documentary has a good representation of the needs for marginalized communities.

The weakness of this documentary though is the flow might be abrupt, since the focus is quick and changing. This can be confusing. There would have to be some external research to actually get the backstory of various events in the documentary, specifically with the break that Siqueria has with the Socialist party. This documentary also will date itself, specifically if the events of Brazil become even more volatile or changed for the LGBTQ+ communities in this South American country. This can be not as relevant for other countries (United States) with trans-communities. A third weakness is the fact that the documentary focus became narrow, specifically with how much the focus became on Indianara Siqueria.

As a documentary though, Your Mother’s Comfort is a highly recommended title for existing academic or public adult LGBTQ+ collections and for adult/college collections supporting trans-visibility. There are the continued struggles and experiences lived for people in this community and visibility is awareness and knowledge.

Awards:
Outfest Los Angeles 2020 Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature; 2020 Official Selection for Sheffield Doc Fest

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