“Completa” a Yucatecan documentary that seeks to combat ignorance and taboos on breast cancer

María Bello Buenfil is a young woman from Yucatan who is currently working on her first feature film: a documentary called “Completa“, which seeks to reflect the lack of knowledge, education and information among Latin Americans in relation with the proper care and responsibility of protecting the woman’s body.

According to the filmmaker, the motion picture will tell the story of two women with different personalities and social contexts, but with something in common: the loss of a breast.

One of the characters is the owner and founder of “Contacto“, an association that fights against breast cancer.

María Bello says that one of the main objectives of the documentary is to show the lack of education about the care of the female body in order to encourage breast care since elementary school and promote simple preventive actions on a subject that can be fatal, but is largely ignored.

“We want to be part of a social campaign expressed in a cinematographic language, which invites people to understand that, regardless of their social or economic situation, all women are vulnerable to this condition,” she said.

Bello explained that the idea arose after realizing that a huge number of people with whom she spoke, was connected in some way or another with a person who had breast cancer at some point in their lives. “I started listening to this issue so oftenly, that I decided to do something about it.”

Director and producer Maria Bello Buenfil works on her first film about breast cancer. (Photo: Diario de Yucatan)

According to the results of her research on this issue, most people in Mexico and other countries do not talk about breast cancer until October (official breast cancer month), and nothing is being said or done during the rest of the year about this public health problem, which is totally absurd.

On self-exploration, María Bello said: “body examination is something that women should do as part of their everyday life, like eating or going to work, but there is still a lot of ignorance about the subject and too many taboos”.

Regarding the filmmaking Bello stated; “It is a bit stressful to produce and direct at the same time, but the cause is worth the effort”

On the other hand, she said that although the project is supported by PlataformaMX, The Documentary Film Festival DocsMx and Imcine, they are still looking for more funding to complete the shooting and the post-production stage.

Those interested in supporting can contact María Bello Buenfil at mariabellobuenfil@gmail.com