Arami Ullón

Arami Ullón (born October 3, 1978) is a Paraguayan film director, producer and writer. She is the author of the awarded documentary Cloudy Times. She lives in Switzerland and Paraguay. Ullón started her career at age 16, and she is considered a pioneer and innovator in the movie industry in Paraguay.

Early life Arami Ullón Villalba was born in Asunción on October 3, 1978. grew up in Asunción. Her parents, Mirna Villalba and Luis Ullón, separated when she was still very young, with her as the only child of their union. Arami was raised by her mother, who was affected by Parkinson's disease and epilepsy, and her childhood memories are tinted by the experience of dealing with her mother's disease. Because of her mother's condition, Arami also grew up under the care of her grandmother, Maria Olinda Alonso.

Arami states that her training in film making and audiovisual production is highly empirical. Nevertheless, she has obtained a scholarship to study hands- on film making in the Boston Film and Video Foundation.

Career During her childhood and early adolescence, Paraguay was under the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled over the country for 35 consecutive years. The oppressive culture of the dictatorship influenced her desire to open conversations about democracy among young people.

In 1998 Ullón directed a radio show in an innovative station called Rock and Pop. The show was live for two hours every night and had an erotic theme. The show aired erotic stories written by Ullón and voluntary collaborators, and the audience was encouraged to share their stories, fantasies, or experiences over the phone. This kind of show had no precedent in the Paraguayan Radio. That same year, she produced her first short movie. Ullón was 19 years old when she directed her first film, Absence of an Own Name (Original title in Spanish: Ausencia de un nombre propio).

Continuing her career as a producer, she also worked on music videos, TV ads, the production of shows for children as “Lori Club”. Two years later, she directed the film Béckon, also in Paraguay.

In 2020, she released her new production, Nothing but the Sun (Spanish: Apenas el sol). This documentary illustrates the struggles of the indigenous Ayoreo "an unequal battle in which the Ayoreo have to deal with financial pressures that threaten to prolong their agony indefinitely. Forced to leave their ancestral lands in spite of the Paraguayan laws granting them rights, the Ayoreo often find themselves in hostile urban contexts to which they are unable to adapt, which reject them and push them towards marginalisation."

Ullón also wrote a book about gender violence, About Abuse and Other Relatives (Original Title in Spanish: Sobre abusos y otros parientes). She also works as a narrative consultant for several swiss directors.

Ullón is a member of the Paraguayan Film Academy and a member of the European Film Academy.

Personal life

Ullón lives and works in Asunción, Paraguay, and Basel, Switzerland with her partner Patrick Oser.

Nothing but the Sun illustrates the distressing story from the Ayoreo people, who are systematically discriminated against, traumatically uprooted, denied of their cultural heritage.

Arami has produced this film was co-produced by Paraguay and Switzerland. She has been very vocal about the lack of structures and opportunities to produce films in her country of origin. Among other Paraguayan filmmakers the organization Creadores PY was founded as an organization for screenwriters and directors in the country.

She is an active member of the Paraguayan Film Academy.

Filmography - A selection