At some point, maybe a quarter way into the film, you may find yourself asking: what is this all about? But stick with it and you’ll realise this question is an irrelevance. Because you’re about to been sucked in deep into this irrestible, colourful, rough, loving, and sometimes scary world of Cabaret Travesía Travesti.
Of course this documentary is about something. A Chilean cabaret which is a radical, highly explicit, uncompromising, activist transvestite show, built around a core of three trans people: Maraca Barata (which means ‘cheap slut’), Anastasia María Benavente and Amnesia Letal – the latter of whom is the maker of this film, Nicolás Videla.
Videla is pointing his camera at all members of the cabaret, which had a nice run before ending on October 18, the exact date of the Social Outbreak in Chile, following the government’s plans to increase the price of metro tickets. Throughout the documentary, which in no way, shape or form follows a conventional narrative, parallels are drawn between the history of the cabaret and of Chilean society.
Videla freely and intuitively mixes his own footage with that of his fellow artists, comprising videos shot on smartphones, monologues, arguments, performances, preparations, intoxicated rants and banter, but also news footage of riots and other politically charged events, as well as artful shots of colourful birds in their natural habitat, referring inevitably to the main characters of his documentary – birds of paradise in a hostile environment.
Unlike most documentaries about trans people, this one is actually made by one, which gives it a palpable sense of power and strength. Sure, all of the characters have a story to tell about shame, rejection, discrimination, violence and displacement. They have all lost their family, or traded them for their self-appointed family from the vibrant trans scene. And as in all families, fights and fall-outs occur, suffused by drama. But it is clearly their own story, told without any reservation or need to impress.
The red thread throughout the film is the explanation as to why the cabaret had to come to an end. Each of the characters has their own side of the story, which in the end all come down to miscommunication, hurt pride and inability to express feelings.
It doesn’t really matter who’s right or wrong, but it does matter how Videla portrays the cabaret – unapologetically trans, sexual and sexy. Loud and proud and refusing to be marginalised, even if it means being laughed at, spat on, excluded and harassed. It shows the utter courage of this group of people, who throughout their performances demand equality, respect and love. The very explicit displays of BDSM on stage are more than just that: Videla craftfully combines them with a voice-over of the performer being penetrated about his flaying relationship with the one doing the penetrating. A touching story rooted in trust and confidence.
Somewhere near the end of this rollercoaster movie a remark is made: ‘Abort the macho within,’ which might be what the doc is about: people daring to be vulnerable in a macho world, and thus being stronger and braver than any of the conventional machos. ‘These are our stories,’ Videla states. What he means is, ‘stop them making films about us. We can do it ourselves.’ And so they can, and should, if it means the world gets to see more colourful craziness like this.
96 min, B/W and colour, Spanish (English subtitles)
Director Nicolas Videla
Production Nicolas Videla for Cinespecie, Nicole Bonilla for La Madre
Executive producer Nicolas Videla, Walter Tiepelmann, Nicole Bonilla, Mario Durrieu
Co-production Mario Durrieu for 996 films, Walter Tiepelmann for 996 films
Cinematography Nicolas Videla, Kevin Magne, Sebastián Palominos, Jorge Matta, Nicole Costa
Animation Francisca Celume
Editing Nicolas Videla
Sound Nicolas Videla, Kevin Magne, Andre Millán
Sound Design Andre Millán
Music Anastasia María Benavente, Sofía Devenir, Carlos Tardel
Screenplay Nicolas Videla
World Sales 996 films
