''Modesta'' is a 1956 short

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

that stars Antonia Hidalgo and Juan Ortiz Jiménez.

Plot

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

manifesto set in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, in which a

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

woman rebels against her husband's authoritarianism. She and the other women of her community organize the Liberated Women League to fight for their rights.

Production

The movie was adapted by Benjamin Doniger, Luis A. Maisonet and

René Marqués René Marqués (October 4, 1919 – March 22, 1979) was a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican short story writer and playwright. Early years Marqués was born, raised and educated in the city of Arecibo. He developed an interest in writing at a ...

from a story by Domingo Silas Ortiz and produced by DIVEDCO. It was also directed by Doniger.

Legacy

In 1998, ''Modesta'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", one of the few Latino films to distinguished that honor. It is also in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

.Free to Use and Reuse: Public Domain Films from the National Film Registry, Free to Use and Reuse Sets, Library of Congress
/ref>

References

External links

*
The entire film on LOC's official YouTube channel
{{italic title 1956 films United States National Film Registry films Labor rights Labor in Puerto Rico American black-and-white films American feminist films American drama short films 1956 independent films American independent films