A film with the women milkers of San Miguel de Sema

One of the restitutions of the PREFER work in San Miguel de Sema, Colombia, will be a documentary film made with the women who participated in the research.

The film is about milking, and about what happens when milking changes. For many years, the women we met worked as hateras, milking cows by hand. This was a job, of course, but it was also part of everyday life in the community. There was a way of organising the day around it, knowledge associated with it, and relationships between people. At was a source of income geared at making the future possible for generations to come as well. With the progressive introduction of milking machines, much of this work has disappeared or is disappearing. For some of the women, this has meant losing an important source of work and income.

The idea of the film came from a discussion about restitution. In November 2025, Clara de la Hoz and Janky Sánchez met with the women to discuss what could be done with what had been learned during the research, and how something could be returned to the community. The women agreed that they would like to make a film.

The local PREFER team then worked with a Colombian production team experienced in documentary films and in working with communities. But we did not want to arrive with a story already written. The first question, to the hateras, was simply: what kind of story do you want to tell?

In March 2026, the film team, Clara, Janky and the women met for a series of workshops and visits. There were conversations about the past, the present and the future. The women brought objects that were meaningful to them from their lives as hateras. They watched short extracts from different films and talked about what these images made them feel and remember. They also began to tell some of their own stories. The first images were filmed during these meetings.

In May, the group met again. The production team had prepared a first proposal for the film, based on the March meetings, and this was discussed with the women. Some things were kept, some changed, and other things were added. Filming also continued.

There are other things that have entered the film along the way. One of the local music groups, that is involved in another restitution for the community, will compose the song for it. The Mayor of San Miguel de Sema has agreed to organise a public recognition of the women’s contribution to the community, following a request made during the research. This will also become part of the film.

The main filming has been conducted in July 2026, with the full production team. The documentary should be completed towards the end of the year 2026. But it will not simply be handed over when it is finished. We will meet once more with the women to watch it together and discuss whether anything should be changed.

Lets stress a central source of pride for the PREFER team: the women involved in the research are also involved in deciding what their story should look like - we have applied the principle of narrative sovereignty in very concrete terms.