Descolonizarte TEATRO hosts screening of Colombian documentary ‘Soul of the Desert’

(Photo by Juno Le)

ORLANDO | Descolonizarte TEATRO, an Orlando-based Latinx social change theater organization, hosted a screening of “Soul of the Desert” on Feb. 24 as part of its Community Conversations program.

The internationally acclaimed documentary follows Georgina Epiayú, an Indigenous Wayúu trans woman, as she navigates the systematic erasure challenging her efforts to obtain documents that recognize her as a woman.

The Community Conversations program encourages diverse audiences to engage in conversations relevant to Latinx, indigenous, immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.

Nadia Garzón, founder and executive director at Desco, says that the team felt the film aligned with the stories they were hoping to share as part of the program.

“We thought this film was beautiful,” Garzón shares. “But it also had a lot of intersections that are important to point out, like the fact that the protagonist is a person who’s also an indigenous person, a person who’s low-income in an area that’s very rural. Who doesn’t have access to everything, and on top of that, is a trans woman.”

“Soul of the Desert” won the Queer Lion Award, which recognizes the best films with LGBTQ+ themes and queer identity, at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The feature film was directed by Colombian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter Mónica Taboada-Tapia and produced by Guerrero Films.

The screening was hosted at the Mexican Consulate in Orlando, and Desco was joined by local grassroots organizations supporting Latinx, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities. Garzón shared with guests that Desco events were initially hosted at the Winter Park Library.

Desco made a statement on Instagram in November following the termination of their programming at the Winter Park Library.

“Recently, we proposed a poetry slam centered on immigration, and they rejected the event, citing immigration as ‘controversial,’” Desco’s statement read. “Because the Library has made it clear that immigrant-centered programming — and, by extension, immigrant communities — are not welcome there, Desco is ending the partnership and withdrawing all of our programming from the Winter Park Library.”

“We are really building a community that wants to support one another,” Garzón says. “… the programming that we’re bringing is going to be programming that is relevant, but also where they see themselves reflected.”

For more information, visit DescoTeatro.org.

Watemark Out News attended the screening of “Soul of the Desert” and you can view our photos below.

Photos by Juno Le.