Memória e existência lésbica no cinema

Abstract

In recent years, we can identify, in the field of Brazilian cinema, an eruption of lesbian existence, as formulated by the American feminist poet and essayist Adrienne Rich. Surrounding some of the historical-political contingencies that have conditioned this emergence, in this text, developed in dialogue with lesbian feminist propositions and triggered by both collective and autobiographical memories, I discuss the possibilities of self-identifying as "lesbian" based on a history constructed through erasure, insults, and violence, but also by the legacies left by lesbians who came before us, especially through their theoretical, literary, and cinematic productions. Finally, I turn to the emblematic and monstrous figure of the vampire to consider it as a paradigm of lesbian in/visibility in cinema, revisiting important texts about our presence in films throughout history. With this counter-archiving movement, I aim to contribute, ultimately, to the consolidation of a critical repertoire that helps us expand the questions and concerns that arise from lesbian movements in contemporary Brazilian cinema.