Guadalajara (Mexico) (EFE).- The Mexican artist Eréndira Ibarra lamented in an interview with EFE that actresses have to fight with the false idea that their artistic career ends at a certain age, an “expiration date” that many internalize almost unconscious way.
“It is very complex to fight against (that), it is also what we tell ourselves, it is something that is how we were educated. If you’re not working like crazy and you’re not producing, people are going to forget about you and your career is going to be over. Within the struggle, there is this need to say: I have no expiration date, ”he said in the framework of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG).
Ibarra is a screenwriter, producer and activist for the rights of women and the population of sexual diversity, whose characters have broken schemes both in Mexican productions and for companies and international digital platforms.
Increased awareness of women in film
The protagonist of the series “Ingobernable”, together with the Mexican Kate del Castillo, affirmed that in recent years a group of women has been formed who are dedicated to acting, directing and audiovisual production who want to break with this idea of that women can’t be in this industry when they get old.
They have also generated projects in which not only characters over 40 years of age have a place, but in which different social groups, including women, are represented and included, telling stories that matter to them from “their own perspective”.
He assured that many production companies talk about inclusion and apparently inclusive stories are generated, but that they are directed or written by men, heterosexual people or people who do not belong to a minority.
“The only thing that has changed is the formula in front of the camera, but not behind the camera, therefore it is a formula, it is not real inclusion. For this reason, the fight from Anónima Media (his production house) for all people to be represented with dignity in all decision-making spaces ”, he assured.
Ibarra says that her production company, which she shares with her sister Natasha Ybarra, is willing to bet on stories that tell other realities.
“When all of us can be in the writers’ room, that’s when we’re going to start generating different stories, that really change the way we see things, I always talk about the inclusion that they sell us, but the structural inclusion, the real one, it takes a long time and for which you have to fight a lot”, he emphasized.
break with the binary
The actress recently participated in “Matrix 4” and is recognized for her participation in series such as the Mexican “Las Aparicio”, in which she plays a lesbian woman, and in the American series produced by Netflix “Sense 8”, in which she gives life to the best friend of one of the homosexual characters.
Almost without wanting to, Ibarra became an icon of the LGBT community for her characters, but also for the defense of sexual rights from her social networks.
On June 5, Ibarra received the Queer Icon Award, from the Maguey section, which seeks to make the cinema of sexual diversity visible at the Guadalajara International Film Festival.
In the interview, the actress said that she is a woman who goes against the binary that has prevailed in society and that has imposed gender stereotypes.
After her participation in Hollywood, Ibarra will premiere the series “Yellow” in September, the first produced in Spanish for Starzplay and directed by the Mexican Silvana Aguirre and Sofía Auza.
At the same time, he works on Anónima Media projects in conjunction with other production houses, although these are forged slowly and with firm steps.
“I am not very willing to risk the quality of the projects or the way in which I want to produce them, so I am not in a hurry, but when it arrives it will be a safe space for all people in all aspects, not just in front of the camera”, concluded.