| Fighting Cholitas | |
|---|---|
_2014-02-16_19-28.jpg) Cholitas fight it out in the arena (February 2014) | |
| Directed by | Mariam Jobrani |
| Produced by | Mariam Jobrani Teresa Deskins Kenny Krauss |
Release date |
|
Running time | 20 minutes |
| Country | Bolivia |
TheFighting Cholitas are a group ofIndigenousAymara womenwrestlers who perform inEl Alto, Bolivia.[1] The Cholitas are part of a group called theTitans of the Ring, which includes both male and female wrestlers. The Titans perform each Sunday for an audience of hundreds at El Alto's Multifunctional Center. By 2005 tickets to the exhibitions cost $1.[1]
The idea of including women wrestlers as a maneuver for publicity came from Juan Mamami, a wrestler and president of the Titans. They routinely attract over a thousand spectators to their bouts in El Alto and several hundred spectators when they travel with the Titans to smaller towns.[1]
Like the general population of El Alto, which consists almost entirely ofAymara andQuechua residents, the Cholitas areIndigenous. They wear braided hair,bowler hats andpolleras, multilayered skirts, in the ring.[1]
According to a 2005 article inThe New York Times, the Titans earn about $13 for each bout. Most of the wrestlers have other jobs besides their wrestling careers.[1]
The Fighting Cholitas along with theCholita Climbers and other groups of Indigenous Aymara women are pushing back against negative stereotypes.[2]
The Cholitas were the subject of an award-winning 2006 short-subject documentary,The Fighting Cholitas.[3][4] The twenty-minute documentary was directed by Mariam Jobrani and produced by Jobrani, Teresa Deskins and Kenny Krauss.[5] The film received an honorable mention in Short Filmmaking at the 2007Sundance Film Festival.[6]
In October 2008, the Fighting Cholitas were featured in the third episode ofthirteenth season of the American reality seriesThe Amazing Race, in which a contestant from each team was tasked with learning and performing a six-step wrestling routine with a Cholita.[7]
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