SYNOPSIS:

After the revolution in Nicaragua, from the viewpoint of women and mothers. Doña Petrona, from the farm village Regadio, is an irritating but convincing personification of the traditional role of women. Her daughter-in-law wants more freedom and independence and gets into conflicts. Doña Clementina, from the town of Esteli, supports the revolution out the belief that it will open up new possibilities for women. Her daughter wants a career and will eventually study in the USSR. Other young women volunteer for the army and understand their role in the military as part of the battle for better career opportunities for women.
Cautiously feeling its way, the film gets closer and closer to the women. We become more acquainted with their daily life in the country, in the town and at the front. As the film becomes more intimate, the rhythm of life in Nicaragua, with all its contradictions, becomes more tangible.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS / PRESENTATIONS:

Internationale Leipziger Dokumentar- und Kurzfilmwochen (DDR 86)
Solothurner Filmtage (CH 87)
Feminale (D 87)
Festival International du Film Documentaire Nyon (CH 87)
International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana (CUBA 87)
Festival de Cine Iberoamericano, Huelva (E 88)
Women in the Director’s Chair (USA 1989)
Presentation: Arthouse /Studio Cinemas (CH/D), Television

REVIEWS:

“Threatened by the aggressive anticommunist U.S.foreign policy, Nicaragua offers a vast area for political controversy. Gabrielle Baur’s and Kristina Konrad’s film though never falls for a simplifying presentation of friend and foe. Staying close to the people of Nicaragua they sensitively portray a country in a state of transition. The film points out that a revolution is but a first step preparing the setting for an evolution which must follow. Cada Dia Historia does not restrict itself to the display of the external threat embodied in the U.S.A. and their extension, the contra, but stands out against the host of idologically adorned, superficial agitatory films by concentrating on the internal process of change which is undoubtedly of more importance to the success of the revolution in the long run. Gabrielle Baur’s and Kristina Konrad’s frank and unpretending imagery delineates the manifold and distinct picture of a young socialist country.” Cyril Thurston, CINEMA

“Above all, this film gives the women of Nicaragua a chance to speak for themselves. It raises a lot of questions without answering them, without judgement, leaving ample space for own thoughts and ideas. A successful attempt at presenting women as the protagonists of their own history.” Anne-Kathrin Link, TAZ / Germany

“From Listening to Understanding: Wonderful, how with this film you get round to listening, suddenly a particular sentence is illuminated by what another woman has to say; wonderful, how you are led to understand by watching, by witnessing how women coming back from the mountains, still in fighting gear, hug their children and babies, crying with joy, happy. Wonderful, too, how with this documentary video you get a glimpse of the everyday life of people, realising how inadequate your imagination has been all the time, as everyday life is hardly ever or never spoken of.” RUNDSCHAU, 31.1.1987

“(…) Only after another year they feel that they have almost arrived, reached out to the foreign culture a little. The result is an account which is far from the usual sensationalist reporting on Nicaragua. Revolution, machismo, emancipation are grand words. Their frequent reflections are experienced in the seemingly insignificant occupations of any ordinary day. It becomes evident how inextricably interwoven grand words and everyday life are. The obvious question as to the changes in the lives of women since the revolution is transformed to the much more difficult statement of the problem: which position do the women want to have in this society after all ? This is where a lively dialogue between the women of the industrialised western world and the peasant women of Regadio takes place. The authors come to realise – and do not hide this experience – that their questions fall too short. But by reaching out again and again they manage to bring about the exchange which is so important for both worlds.” Beatrice Leuthold, TAGES-ANZEIGER 

AWARDS:

Federal Study Award

CATALOGUE INFORMATION:

Written & directed by:
Gabrielle Baur, Kristina Konrad
Cinematography: Gabrielle Baur
Sound: Kristina Konrad
Montage: Gabrielle Baur, Kristina Konrad, Kurt Maeder
Videoediting: Bruce Tovsky
Original version: Spanish, color, 16mm (blow-up), 78 min.
Subtitles English
Release: August 1987 (Video: Oktober 1986)
Production und worldsale : ONIX Film, Postfach 751, Langstrasse 64, CH-8024 Zürich

ORDER:

Rent and sale on request.
Video VHS, Pal or NTSC. Originalversion Spanish, with English subtitles.