Soul of the Desert by Mónica Taboada Tapia
Venice Days, the independent section of the Venice Film Festival, also known as the Giornate degli Autori, will host the world premiere of three Latin American films, all by women directors, in its 21st edition, which will take place from August 28 to September 7, 2024. The three Latin American films in this year’s lineup of 25 titles are the Colombian documentary Soul of the Desert / Alma del desierto by Mónica Taboada Tapia, the Dominican film Sugar Island by Johanné Gómez Terrero, and the Brazilian film Manas by Marianna Brennand.
Soul of the Desert, screening out of competition in the Special Event program, is a documentary on the road that tracks the journey of Georgina, an elderly transgender woman forced to cross the sandy and arid Colombian peninsula of La Guajira on foot to obtain something she has desired for almost half a century: a document that will grant her the right to be what she has always felt she was and, at long last, allow her to vote. Amid open wounds, memories, and unfathomable geographical and emotional distances, Georgina and her people agree that enough is enough. Ultimately, Taboada Tapia’s debut documentary feature emerges as a story of resilience, a symbol of hope, and a fervent struggle for justice.
In Sugar Island, premiering in competition, director Gómez Terrero examines the colonial roots of the sugar industry and the lasting role of spirituality in liberation movements through the story of Makenya. She is a teenager in a sugarcane-surrounded Batey community whose unwanted pregnancy propels her into adulthood. Her mother serves the spiritual Mysteries; her grandfather fights for pension rights. As industry mechanization threatens their displacement without compensation, a serpent representing the Mysteries guides Makenya to embrace both her earthly power and multi-dimensional awareness, navigating the realm of the impossible.
Set on the Island of Marajó in the Amazon rainforest, Manas follows Tielle, a teenager who lives by the riverbanks with her father, mother, and three siblings. Prompted by her mother’s words, she idolizes her older sister, who supposedly escaped her reality by “finding a good man” on the barges that ply the region. As Tielle matures, her idealized visions shatter, leaving her trapped between two abusive environments. Increasingly worried about her younger sister and the bleak future they face, she decides to confront the oppressive system that controls her family and the women in their community.
