Kon Kon Pi

Chile, 2010. Director Cecilia Vicuña. 13min.

Central to La Libertad is the backstrap loom and the pre-Columbian practice of weaving preserved by generations of Indigenous women in Mesoamerica. Huertas Millán's experimental ethnography follows a family of tejedoras (weavers), offering a glimpse into the labouring gestures of these matriarchs. Formally, the film weaves together fragments of their daily lives and testimonies that touch on labour, emancipation, patriarchy, and freedom. Huertas Millán astutely articulates these gestures and conversations within larger discourses on value and commodification. Beyond documentation, La Libertad presents a tactile yet unintrusive look at the ecological and intimate microcosmos built around textiles. The camera captures the rhythmic precision of their movements as they braid motifs onto fabric – animals, objects, and geometrical forms that carry ancient significance. Through patient observation, the film reveals how these woven patterns serve as embodied resistance, preserving a cultural practice that has survived centuries of systematic erasure while reflecting on autonomy and collective memory. 

Past screenings

Grounded: Fashion’s Entanglements with Nature – London
Thursday 22 May 2025, 16:00 | Regent Street Cinema
Presented as a part of the programme ‘Weaving Rituals, Unravelling Cosmovisions,’ with introduction by guest curator Maria Cunha (CREAM, University of Westminster).