By Sorayda Díaz
Adriana (Chica) Barbosa grew up hearing that putting down roots in one place can be dangerous; her father kept moving her to a new school every two years during her childhood to keep her in a constant state of movement and adaptation. This prepared her for her nomadic life, helping her forge an identity that crosses borders—not only in her personal life, but also in her interactions with the community and, of course, in the art she creates.
A film enthusiast, the Mexican-Brazilian filmmaker began her training and career in cinema in Brazil, where she lived for 13 years (having previously lived in Mexico). There, in that South American country, Barbosa studied Advertising and Marketing, as she lacked the opportunity to pursue an academic career in film; However, during her first year of college, Chica met people who were on the same wavelength as her—people who saw cinema as a way of thinking about the world and not as something personal and elitist, but rather as something that could be done collectively. That is how her journey in cinema began, thinking about cinema collectively. Today, Chica has taken her art around the world and has earned many accolades.
She is fascinated by the life of an immigrant; her father always raised her with the belief that adversity pushes us to find other ways to succeed, and all those lessons were important in shaping her identity.
“I like the idea of how that identity can cross borders—those visible and invisible borders that exist between countries. It’s something I’m very interested in exploring in my personal, community, and artistic life: the idea of crossing borders, traversing them, and expanding them despite adversity,” says Barbosa.
"It's important to identify with other immigrants," she adds, "to focus on the community, on those people who are in the same boat as us." For her, that was what helped her adjust to life in the United States, in the city of Los Angeles, where she arrived shortly before the pandemic.
“Something that helped me, allowed me to connect with a lot of people, and helped me understand this city were those groups of Latin American and Chicana women; there were several groups that had one thing in common: their identity.”
She found it fascinating to see just how diverse each Latinx identity is, how different each of our experiences is, and how that identity manifests itself in different perspectives on life in this country; to understand how each of us can find a sense of belonging in our own way. It is a way of existing and resisting, and of exploring our identity.
She grew up in Mexico, and the United States always felt very close to her country, yet at the same time very far away.
“As Latinos, we have this impression that it’s a place where things happen more easily. Maybe that’s why, when I was already living in Brazil during the coup, it seemed like the right time to move. I came here with my partner; we were both filled with a deep sense of anxiety, with our careers hanging in the balance.”
Once she was here, it was a very curious encounter between the familiar and the unfamiliar: she arrived and saw things that were very familiar, but suddenly she wasn't speaking English anymore; she was speaking Spanish at the market and on the street, and strangely enough, that gave her a very positive feeling.
“It made me smile. It was a place that felt very familiar yet different at the same time.”
Collective Cinema
São Paulo is a city rich in cinema, yet complex. It was the communities in her city and the “Cinefusão” collective—where she founded her own production company, “En Caliente Films,” in 2014—that helped her discover it, and in doing so, she found that empathy in the world.
“Sometimes it’s hard to think of the world as a place where we can find salvation; cinema helps me stay hopeful and connect with people.”
Through the collective, he participated in the “Cineclube Cinema em Revista,” organizing discussion sessions on film, politics, and art with educators, theater companies, and independent filmmakers. Together with Bruno Mello Castanho, he directed “Ferroada” (Bite), a hybrid short film about the Brazilian writer and businessman Tico in São Paulo.
That’s where the short film *La Flaca* came from—an interesting process stemming from the filmmaker’s exploration of expressions of faith and rituals related to death in Mexico.
Co-directed with Thiago Zanato, “La Flaca” is a hybrid short film about a Mexican transgender woman and leader of the Santa Muerte religious movement in Queens, NY, which has won several awards and been screened at over 100 film festivals worldwide.
Barbosa later directed the feature-length documentary *Madrigal for a Living Poet* in Brazil, alongside Bruno Mello Castanho—a film that won awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Character at the Triunfo Film Festival (Brazil, 2019).
Portraying overlooked communities and individuals, seeking to offer a different perspective on a social issue, or addressing a topic surrounded by prejudice or taboo, defending women’s rights, and speaking out—these are the elements that always inspire her when she creates.
Chica is currently developing her first narrative feature film, which will be produced in Mexico and the United States; and is also producing the feature-length documentary “Esu and the Universe,” directed by Thiago Zanato, a Brazil-Nigeria co-production that was a finalist for the Roy Dean Spring Grant and selected for the Points North Fellowship, Latino Media Market – NALIP Media Summit, WIP Latino at the FICG in LA, “Only in New York” – DOCNYC, and DOCSP – São Paulo International Documentary Festival, Brazil.
Chica Barbosa's website:chicabarbosa.com
Watch a trailer for *Chica*:
Ferroada, 25 min, Brazil – Trailer:
Madrigal for a Living Poet, 75 min, Brazil – Trailer:
La Flaca, 20 min, USA/Brazil/Mexico – Trailer:
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