Mónica Taboada-Tapia’s short film Two-Spirit premiered at IDFA in 2021. For the long documentary Alma del desierto (winner of the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival), the director returned to her previous protagonist Georgina Epiayu, a member of the Wayúu, an indigenous ethnic group in the arid La Guajira region of northern Colombia, on the Caribbean Sea.
Georgina is a trans woman in her seventies who has great difficulty obtaining an ID that correctly states her name and gender. She is also seeking reconciliation with her family. They are now on speaking terms again, but still a long way from full acceptance.
Georgina, who we see walking through the desert, remains calm and resilient, seeking her own path. With an eye for the beauty of the flora and fauna, and of the vast plains, Taboada-Tapia observes her in the landscape as if guided by the “soul of the desert”, as the title reads. Georgina’s unbroken perseverance mirrors that of the marginalized Wayúu community, fighting for their rights in the drought-stricken country.
Stills
