COMPARSA

COMPARSA

Special Features: Q&A with filmmaker Doug Anderson

Guatemalan sisters Lesli and Lupe live in the barrio of Ciudad Peronia, which is still reeling from the tragic deaths of 41 young girls killed in a state-run children’s home in 2017 after a fire broke out and the police locked them inside. Sensing an urgent need to both exorcise the pain and confront the corruption in Peronia, the sisters gather a comparsa — a troupe of singers, dancers and musicians — for a joyous street festival with towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers and thunderous drums that will heal their community and themselves. Documentarians Vickie Curtis and Doug Anderson empathetically capture the resilience and plight of a fierce youth movement eager to end the rampant gender-based violence coursing through Guatemalan society. At the film’s core are two survivors, forced at too young an age to reckon with a toxic and patriarchal culture, who believe in the transformational power of art. –Javier Chavez

DIR/SCR/PROD Vickie Curtis; DIR/PROD Doug Anderson; SCR Lesli Canela Pérez, Lupe Pérez; SCR/PROD Anna Hadingham; PROD Olivia Ahnemann. Guatemala/U.S., 2025, color, 79 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Run Time: 79 Minutes

Opening Date: Sunday, September 21, 2025

Genre: Documentary - history

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Key:
GUEST ANSQ&A

COMPARSA

Showtimes

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Sunday, September 21, 2025

3:30 p.m.
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
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