From Tribeca to Sundance
English professor Cecilia Aldarondo's debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival and recently won her a fellowship from the Sundance Institute. She screened and discussed the documentary on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
On July 31, the Memories of a Penitent Heart. Along with appearing at the Tribeca Film Festival, it won a fellowship from the fellowship from the Sundance Institute.
Combining old home movies and documents with creatively shot interviews and other footage, Penitent Heart charts Aldarondo’s unearthing of a long-buried family conflict about her Uncle Miguel and his death from AIDS. After two years of searching, she finds her uncle's partner, who has reinvented himself as a Franciscan monk but who still harbors 25 years of pent-up grief and bitterness. Memories of a Penitent Heart is something of a cautionary tale about the mistakes of the past and the second chances of the present. The Village Voice calls the film "exceptional" and "profoundly affecting."
from on .
Penitent Heart's honors include a best-documentary award at the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival and a special award for emotional honesty at the Indie Memphis Film Festival. It is slated for .
Filmmaker and English professor
Cecilia Aldarondo
Now the Sundance Institute has announced that Aldarondo is one of six for 2017. The fellowship pairs her with a professional coach to help guide her development as a filmmaker in the coming year. It also includes networking opportunities and a stipend to attend the Sundance festival’s one-on-one meetings, group seminars, and other events.
Aldarondo's scholarship and interests encompass literature, gender studies, contemporary art, and politics as well as filmmaking; her Ph.D., from the University of Minnesota, is in comparative studies in discourse and society.
After Tuesday's screening, English professor Mason Stokesβ€”whose books and essays include the acclaimed "Namesake," about his uncleβ€”will lead the audience in conversation with Aldarondo.
