Colorado filmmakers document activists using art to protest violence against women in 'Comparsa'
The 48th Denver Film Festival runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 9. More than 130 films will screen over the course of 10 days, including everything from buzz-worthy features, international films, independent films, shorts, and documentaries. Among the films in this year's Colorado Spotlight is a documentary that became a six-year passion project for its Boulder-based creative team.
"Comparsa" is a documentary that tells the story of two sisters as they work to reimagine their community through art.
"Comparsa is the name of the art form that Lesli and Lupe use when they want to bring their message to the community," said Vickie Curtis, co-director of the film.
The film features sisters Lesli and Lupe, who live in Ciudad Peronia, an impoverished barrio on the outskirts of Guatemala City, where violence against women goes unchecked. The sisters work with an organization called Peronia Adolescente, a youth-led community organization. The film follows the girls as they plan a comparsa, which is like a carnival procession as a form of activism.
"Literally within minutes of meeting Lesli and Lupe, it was clear how powerful, charismatic, visionary they are," Curtis explained.
Curtis and her co-director, Doug Anderson, started filming in 2019. Through the comparsa, Lesli and Lupe wanted to honor 56 girls who were trapped in a fire at a state-run home in 2017. Forty-one of the girls died.
"Lesli and Lupe were like, 'we care a lot about this, both because it is emblematic of how little care there is in civil society for the lives of women and girls, and in part, because their friend, Siona, who they grew up living down the street from was one of the girls who died in that fire,'" Curtis explained.
The comparsa features fire-breathing stilt walkers, elaborate costumes, and body and face painting. It's a form of protest that's also joyful and celebratory.
Lesli and Lupe "use comparsa as a way to sort of Trojan horse their peace-building and change-making into the community," Curtis observed.
"The face painting and the body painting and the comparsa and the day-to-day art that happens in that space, in their community, adds to that visual richness and visual poetry of the film," said Olivia Ahnemann, a producer on the film. "As the mother of a teenage girl and Vickie's the mom of two young girls, it's not forgotten that living as a woman in all parts of the world comes with danger."
These teen girls, and by extension the documentary, take on a critical problem and call for action.
"They're bringing color into the community both in terms of sort of an emotional lightness and joy and an invitation for everyone to participate in the beautiful future that they're imagining," Curtis said.
"Comparsa" screens at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2 and again at 3 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3 at the Holiday Theater. Lesli and Lupe will be at the screening along with members of the Colorado filmmaking team.
The 48th annual Denver Film Festival runs through Nov. 9 at various venues throughout Denver. For tickets and more information, click here.
