2024 - New in the cinema: “Las Toreras” by Jackie Brutsche

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Touching and forgiving: The artist Jackie Brutsche deals with her mother’s suicide in the film “Las Toreras”.

Jackie Brutsche was just ten when her mother took her own life; she was suffering from schizophrenia. Such a loss is traumatic for everyone affected, especially children. But Jackie Brutsche had an ally that helped her deal with the trauma: creativity.

Legend:

The 46-year-old Bernese resident and multidisciplinary artist Jackie Brutsche as the fictional character “Jack Torera”.

Film bringer

«I drew and did a lot of crafts as a child. “That made me strong and resilient,” she says. Today, art is Jackie Brusche’s profession. She tours the world as the front woman of two bands, “The Jackets” and “The Sex Organs”, and brings multidisciplinary one-woman pieces to the stage.

The fighter Jack Torera

The same fictional character appeared again and again in Jackie Brutsche’s work early on. A woman in a Spanish bullfighting costume named Jack Torera. “She is my alter ego, a fighter, a strong character who does what he wants,” says Brutsche.

In “Las Toreras” two strands are woven together. On the documentary level, the real Jackie Brutsche goes looking for clues to find out the life of her mother Carmen. She reads diaries, documents and letters and conducts interviews with relatives.

On the art level, the fictional character Jack Torera traces his mother and follows her through time. This level is visually reminiscent of a cross between Spaghetti and Tarantino Westerns and culminates in Jack Torera’s fight with a monster that symbolizes his mother’s illness.

In “Las Toreras” Brutsche succeeds in dealing with his own tragic family history with a lot of ingenuity and empathy in a visually impressive way. But above all, “Las Toreras” is one thing: a life-affirming ode to creativity.

Jack Torera gave her the opportunity to create her own universe. The fictional character gives Brutsche a kind of superpower to deal with her mother’s fate. “Something so strong can emerge from something sad and painful,” she says.

Nevertheless, the mother’s story was always present in Brutsche’s art. She was left with the image of her mother as a woman who longed for a different life.

Accordingly, Brutsche often discussed the pursuit of unattainable goals and the devastating consequences that can bring. But she always found a light-hearted, often bizarre and funny approach to this topic.