The Story
An Indigenous, transgender woman from Oaxaca, Mexico escaped violence in her hometown and fled to the U.S. 30-years-ago. Today, Alejandra’s elderly mother eagerly awaits in Oaxaca for her child’s return after all those years apart. However, Alejandra’s transnational journey proves to be particularly challenging as familiar prejudices threaten to keep this family apart, this time on the Northern side of the border.
But Alejandra will not back down. She is determined to be reunited with her mother, fight for her community, and live the life she was meant to live.
Alejandra's lifelong quest for a safe place to call home through her intersecting identities have turned her into a beacon of solidarity to many in her California community. As she steps up to protect the rights of immigrants, LGBTQ+ friends, indigenous people and women around her, her story is a testament to the importance – and sometimes limits– of mutual solidarity.
Tone & Style
Libertad features vérité footage shot over seven years, which showcases slice-of-life moments from her life in California and her family’s life in Oaxaca. Alejandra’s voiceover shares her own story, accompanied by animated sequences based on her original artwork. The aesthetic is colored by Oaxacan traditional embroidery and is colorful, radiant, and feminine.
Our creative team is all-Latine, majority immigrant, and majority femme. We each worked for a combined 50 years as stortellers to focused on immigrants in general and about Mexico in particular that shed light on the nuances of living across borders, defy steryotypes, and dispel ignorance that divides us.
Behind the Scenes
