Cecilia Cornejo
Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo is a documentary filmmaker, artist, and educator engaging rural communities in southern Minnesota in a multilayered exploration of home and belonging. Locally rooted yet globally minded, her work examines notions of belonging and the immigrant experience while exploring the traces of historical trauma on people and places.
An inaugural recipient of the 2020 McKnight Fellowship for Community-Engaged Artists, Cecilia’s work has received support from multiple organizations, including the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the Jerome Foundation. Her film work has shown at venues such as MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight, the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, Cine las Americas (Texas), L’Alternativa (Spain), InVideo (Italy), Melbourne Latin American Film Festival (Australia), Puerto Vallarta International Film Festival (Mexico) and Festival de Cine Pobre (Cuba). (09/21)
Available Title(s):
Ways of Being Home
A film by Cecilia Cornejo, 2020, 72 min, Color
This intimate cinematic portrait of two small towns - one in Mexico and one in Minnesota - is an evocative audiovisual meditation on the experience of Mexican immigrants living and working in rural America. Vivid cinematography, richly layered soundscapes, short animated sequences, and a constellation of testimonies introduce audiences to Maltrata, an agricultural town nestled…
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I Wonder What You Will Remember of September
A film by Cecilia Cornejo, 2004, 27 min, Color/BW
Cecilia Cornejo presents a haunting personal response to the events of September 11, 2001, informed and complicated by her status as a Chilean citizen living in the U.S. With evocative imagery from both past and present, Cornejo weaves together her own fading childhood memories, her parents vivid recollections of the September 11, 1973 coup in…
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