En Vida (As We Live)

About the film

The short film En Vida describes the story of one family’s grief and subsequent tribute to the women in their family. Francisca “Paquita” Lopez Jiménez, one of three sisters, called Samoborodón, Ecuador home for many years. She died suddenly in 2007 and was buried in a family plot. In 2014, her niece, Jenny Velazco built a private mausoleum and exhumed Paquita’s body in order to give her a more permanent resting place.

The film uses family interviews and a series of vignettes to address the importance of life and the afterlife. It contemplates the responsibility or set of obligations set upon families in moment after a loved one dies. Furthermore, the piece uses images of fire, water and fauna as a means to talk about the currency of the present and the impermanence of life. The film focuses on the Paquita’s influence within the family, how she was a second mother on a variety of levels, through her generosity to her family and the community, while at the same time guarded to love and partnership. Finally, the film exists as a document of events. One such event, the passing of Joseph Velazco, the filmmaker’s father, operates to discuss En Vida as a story about love both familial and amorous.