Claudia Andujar - The Lady with the arrows

»Heidi Specogna's film combines retrospective and contemporary insights into the photographer's life with the current struggles of a young indigenous generation that is confidently raising its voice with new digital media.«

»The film makes it clear what makes her photographs so significant. It is not the ethnographic view of the foreign, but a woman's perspective on people who have given her a meaning in life. Her black and white and colour photos are appreciative.«

»The documentary, which was shown at DOK.fest München 2024, among others, is therefore worth seeing in several respects. It offers an insight into a foreign culture. At the same time, it emphasises how important it is to respect them and preserve the differences that exist in the world. And of course, The Vision of Claudia Andujar is also a tribute that has left its mark artistically and at the same time used its influence for others. And that is as inspiring and important today as it was then. There are also wonderful photographs, whether from the reserve itself or the photographs that the audience gets to see.«

»The film can thus also be read as a reflection on the relationship between audiovisual moving images and photography at the focal point of past, present and future. Andujar's childhood memories, her images of the Yanomami, the film footage by Heidi Specogna accompanied by music and the evidence images that the Yanomami women take with their digital cameras converge into a palimpsest of media visions.«

»Images from the Brazilian universe« - Daniella Baumeister on the magnificent film ‘The Vision of Claudia Andujar’, the best parts of which consist solely of photos.

»By building a bridge to the present day in the Amazon, the film also makes an impressive reference to the power of images to inform, touch and outrage around the world. The film is equally convincing in its ability to bridge the gap between Claudia Andujar's early biography and her commitment to the Yanomami and her decision not to limit herself to the observer's position behind the camera.«

»Specogna's film also provides a brief but extremely watchable outline of the struggle for a self-determined life and sometimes even the survival of Brazil's indigenous population. The film does not draw its power and urgency in the depiction of this struggle from outrage, but on the contrary from the sobriety with which it documents the commitment of the Yanomami and Claudia Andujar.«

»Andujar not only impresses with her remarkable memory in her stories - her clever additions and intelligent wit are also an asset to the film.«

»A successful portrait that aptly captures the artistic and political work of Claudia Andujar and her influence.«

»In her documentary, the award-winning Swiss filmmaker Heidi Specogna draws a line from the life of the militant photo artist to today's struggles of young (often female) indigenous people in Amazonia, who confidently raise their voices and defend their territory with cameras and drones against authorities and gold diggers.«

»What 'can' pictures do? What are photographers or filmmakers ‘allowed’ to do? In these times of AI-generated images, the fundamental questions of every photographic image are posed anew. Heidi Specogna does not formulate them offensively in her documentary, but she ‘answers’ them - with her rousing hymn to the power of photographic images«

»However, the Swiss filmmaker, who was awarded the Grimme Prize for her documentary “The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez”, provides deep and touching insights into the genesis of an extraordinary artistic and humanitarian work.«