On Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Office of Intercultural Engagement and Inclusion (IEI) presented a screening of the film “El Canto del Colibri” in the Axinn Library. The film, which was shown in Spanish with English subtitles, is a documentary exploring the intersection between LGBTQ issues and Latin American culture.
IEI decided to show the film in September to start the series of lectures and events for Latinx Heritage Month, which is the period from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
In the film, immigrant Latino fathers discussed their reactions when their LGBTQ children came out to them and how it has affected their relationships with them. Many of the fathers said they were initially disappointed when their children came out because they were afraid they would be subjected to discrimination or violence as part of the LGBTQ community.
Many of their children, who were also interviewed in this documentary, said they were reluctant to come out for the same reasons – but also because they feared their families would not accept them. Others struggled with their own acceptance of their sexualities and said that they used to suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts.
Sarah McCleskey, the head of Resource and Collection Services for Axinn Library, noted these feelings of loneliness and unhappiness. “I thought it was sad that was a common theme and I think it’s probably good for us to be reminded that you never know what someone else is going through.”
One of McCleskey’s jobs is to curate film collections for the library. When IEI asked her to recommend a film for Latinx month, she chose this one.
“The Spanish language, religion, family – there’s a lot of content in it and it’s so simply done,” McCleskey said. “I thought it would be nice to [show] something that brought in all these different aspects.”
“As a Latinx person, it’s really affirming to watch parents love their kids regardless of how long it took to get there,” said Kaylean Saravia, a senior psychology major.
Saravia was referring to instances in the film where some of the fathers admitted that in the past, they were not always supportive of their children’s identities. By the end of the movie, however, the fathers all said they had learned to support their children and accept them for who they are.
“I feel like this [movie] had a good message to send out, but it’s not always a realistic one – I think you have to be careful about that,” said Alana Reyes, a senior English major. “At the end of the day, everybody wants their parents to accept them, but sometimes, that day doesn’t come. It just always frustrates me when people are like, ‘Yeah, it’ll be all rainbows and sunshine.’ Sometimes you don’t get that.”
Saravia and Reyes were two of the five students who attended the event, in a room that could seat 40. IEI still plans on holding film screenings for other culturally-themed heritage months in the future.
“We’ll think about locations,” McCleskey said. “If we’re going to have really small groups, it might be better to do it somewhere more intimate than this room.”
“We wanted to see if a film screening format would be something students are interested in since we’ve never really done it,” said Amanda Del Gaudio, the assistant director of LGBTQ+ Advocacy and Awareness within the IEI office. Del Gaudio helped organize the screening.
“This is our first one so we hope that this becomes a larger series where we can do it every month and … properly advertise it so we get more students.”
