Listeners should note that the following interview contains discussions about trauma as it relates to #MeToo.

The work of director Ruth Caudeli regularly appears at the Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival, with her previous films Eva and Candela and Leading Ladies both screening at the festival. Her latest film, Same, Again, makes its world premiere at the festival on 25 February 2025.

This improvised drama follows a Colombian theatre troupe who join together to bring the play La Casa de Bernada Alba (The House of Bernada Alba) by Federico Garcia Lorca to life on stage. This play follows the impact of men upon women, which then becomes a textual point within Same, Again, as one of the guiding forces behind this staged appearance is a man.

Same, Again deals with impactful themes of trauma, showing the power of coercion and control that takes place from the foundational aspects of putting on a play - as we see in some intense and controlling audition sequences which forces actors to put themselves into vulnerable situations - to the final performance. Throughout the play, the actors each expose their own vulnerabilities, insecurities, and exposure of their own past traumas. What results in a narrative that delves into male-created trauma, all the while giving agency back to those who have experienced pain.

In the following interview, recorded ahead of the films world premiere at Queer Screen on 25 February 2025, Ruth talks about the foundational work of the film, what it means to be able to give space to trauma on screen, and about her work with long time partner Silvia Santamaría.

Queer Screen continues its cinematic run until 27 February 2025, so you've got plenty of time to head along and catch a film in a cinema before this years festival heads online for the On Demand section of the festival, which runs Australia wide from 28 February to 10 March 2025. For all details, visit QueerScreen.org.au.

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