I am Alma, a documentary about the right to identity
The film tells the story of Alma Cativa Sánchez, a trans woman from Córdoba.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. Alma had many lives. Although she took something from each one with her, from all of them, she chooses the one she lives now. The one that was reborn when she was able to recognize her identity and live as she felt. Her story was captured in the documentary " I am Alma ," directed by Mariana Manuela Bellone.
I Am Alma is a portrait of Alma Cativa Sánchez, a trans woman, writer, actress, and singer born in a small town in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. The documentary offers an interesting look from the present day at Alma's personal archive of photographs and restored VHS images. It covers her time in the police force, her married life, which included two marriages and four children, and an exploration of her own memories upon returning to her childhood home after many years.
The film will have a free screening at the Kirchner Cultural Center on October 28 at 7 p.m. It has just premiered at the Gaumont cinema and a series of screenings at the Cosmos cinema.
From photography to documentary
When people talk to her about the film, Alma laughs somewhat shyly. “People who like it come up to me happily and say hello. I feel very shy. I think about how interesting one's life, my life, can be. However, I also try to understand that it has some particularity, which is why it's interesting,” she tells Agencia Presentes over the phone.
Her story reached director Mariana Manuela Bellone's email when she was looking for people for a portrait. She remembers Alma writing her a lengthy one, telling her her story. They agreed to meet, and from then on, they became friends.
The initial idea of a photo essay fell short for Mariana. One day, she recorded Alma telling her story: that she had four children in Córdoba and that she had joined the police force to avoid military service. The story of her life, drawn from each of Alma's personal photos, fulfilled what Mariana was looking for. Thus, the documentary was born.
“The intention was to tell Alma's story and, through her, tell the stories of other people. Anyone who sees the film, regardless of their gender identity, can relate. It looks at the ties or relationships we have with institutions, with family, with what we should be, with appearances. A lot of things we sometimes do to fit in or belong, leaving aside who we really are, and sometimes we end up extinguishing that ,” says the director of Yo soy Alma.
“Alma is the complete opposite. She moves forward, and it probably has something to do with the fact that she can't hide what's happening to her. I think the film is a portrait of Alma, but it's really a portrait of people's identities. It's about how we as people manage to live in a superficial society, where appearances matter so much,” Bellone adds.
Alma's life
In the documentary, Alma tells her own story. She lends voice, body, and images from her past to the journey of her life. She is 54 years old and holds a degree in Political Science and Social Work. She currently works in the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity, in the area of education.
In 2022, she published the book " Pre-Columbian Argentina: A Country That Doesn't Exist." She also works as a musician, singer, and actress.
“I recognize the best part of my life very clearly as having embraced my identity. From then on, I've been able to project myself, expand, express myself… I 've even been able to move much closer to artistic endeavors. I've also taken many theater classes, and I've also done some plays. All of this makes me think that it has to do with that, with expressing who you truly want to be.”
She inevitably thinks about what her life would have been like if she'd been able to reveal her identity. "You think about that a lot because it's what it should have been like, a lifetime of searching, of trying and striving. As I always say, only God knows how hard I tried to adapt to the identity my anatomy imposed on me . But in my case, the most beautiful thing I have left are my children. I have four children from two mothers, and I have two grandchildren. That's the most vital and beautiful thing about that whole journey that one made, as if in a fog or in the open air. That's the most beautiful thing I have left, and I feel it was worth it."
A story for everyone
Mariana Manuela Bellone, the documentary's director, says she would like teenagers and children to see it. "I would like to see the impact of the issue of diversity, as they begin to ask questions about their bodies and a lot of things they may not have information about," she says.
“Information is more readily available today, but at the time when Alma was asking all those questions, she associated it as something bad, like an illness. With information, she came to understand that there were more people going through something similar and that everything she was experiencing had a name. I think it's interesting to reach that audience.”
And she emphasizes, “Alma is a trans woman over 50 years old, she's alive, she can tell her story in a context where a trans person has a very low life expectancy. But Alma can bring out her entire archive, show it, and tell it in her own voice.”
Trans children
“Every time life happens, it gets harder to bear all of that,” says Alma’s voice, as she reviews her life as a student, as a police officer, as a father, and then her life as Alma.
“The Gender Identity Law had a huge impact on my life. If you wanted to have a national identity document before, you had to file an appeal with the State, and this appeal was paid for because you had to have a lawyer, be sponsored by a lawyer, and file an appeal. Those were extremely long and tedious processes. I had been under that protection for four or five years, and it wasn't resolved when the law came out. It was an immense and profound joy when all that hassle suddenly cleared up, and you were free to go to an office and say, 'I feel this way, please, I want to change my national identity document.' And it's so simple, yet so profound.”
Due to her work at the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity, Alma attends various training sessions where she often talks about her own life. “My intimacy seeps in there. I like to emphasize what they now call trans childhoods—children who are helped and supported by their parents from a very early age in a process of discovering their identity when this happens,” she says.
“But I like to emphasize that a person like me, who is 54 years old, also had a trans childhood. The thing is, it couldn't be expressed, it couldn't be visible due to the sociohistorical and sociocultural context; it was the 1970s. I'm drawing a line here, saying that trans childhoods aren't a modern phenomenon. The modern phenomenon, if anything, is the way parents view these children, and that produces the support, the encounter, the understanding that people like me haven't had. I always say, 'I also had a trans childhood,' it's just that it wasn't visible.”
Talking about life in difficult times
Yo soy Alma has participated in several festivals and has already received five awards. The film has been shown in various venues since June, and will be shown on Saturdays at the Kirchner Cultural Center in October.
“Whether it was the right time to screen the film was one of the questions we asked ourselves,” says the director. “And we thought it was important that, in these times, people have the collective experience of seeing a film in a theater,” she adds.
Hate speech is rife these days, and for Alma, that has a positive side. “I traveled through Latin America as a backpacker. There I realized that we in Argentina are ahead of our time and that we can even make room for debate with hate speech. In other countries, the topic isn't even discussed. As long as there's a chance for debate, we're closer to meeting and understanding others,” Alma says.
I Am Alma will be screened on Saturday, October 14 and 28 at the Kirchner Cultural Center, Sarmiento 101.
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