My Blood, My Medicine

Netherlands

40’, 2019

DIRECTED BY

Froukje van der Velde

PRODUCED BY

Froukje van der Velde

SCRIPTWRITER

Froukje van der Velde

CINEMATOGRAPHER

Froukje van der Velde

EDITED BY

Froukje van der Velde

CONTACT

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The essay film My Blood, My Medicine explores the malleability of taboos through ritualistic menstrual blood offerings with the group Camino da Raiz, in Brazil. The Tenda Vermelha is the centre of this neo-shamanistic spiritual practice, a vision of a space where menstruation is valued as something sacred.

Women are re-creating the discourse surrounding their bodies, cycles and womanhood. The men of this community are constructing this sacred site, while simultaneously witnessing their own ambiguity towards their role in this space.

We are offered a glimpse of the mysteries that take place here, the nightlong rituals, healings, blood offerings. Van der Velde takes on a materialistic visual language, zooming into the blood, highlighting the sensorial experiences. With a feminological symbolic approach to anthropology this film invites viewers to explore their own notions of what is sacred, of what is dirty and how these categorizations affect our bodies and spirits.