MIMA

The illegitimate love child of a servant and a king, Mima’s existence is cursed at birth. Rescued in infancy by the king’s older cousin, Mima is showered with a life of grandeur, including an education that is generally reserved only for men. On the evening of her eighteenth birthday, Mima is implicated in a deadly poisoning and escapes from France. After a series of devastating events in Portugal, Mima accepts an advantageous proposal and flees once again. Reaching her final destination, Mima’s intelligence and humanity begins to challenge the abuse inflicted by the archaic, hierarchical status quo. Finally, in 1692, São Paulo, Brazil, without trial, Mima is convicted of bewitching men with her beauty and ultimately burned at the stake. In this historically fictional tale, the life of Mima Renard is a triumphant testimony to the tenacity and resilience of human spirit. Although hundreds of years have passed, may her story serve as a call-to-action for the exploration and exposition of injustice, both past and present.