Comparsa fully immerses audiences in the intense world of Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala, where sisters Lesli and Lupe use art and performance to rally local youth and heal deep wounds. After 41 girls are killed in a State-run “Safe Home” and the government refuses to act, the sisters respond with a community comparsa—an exuberant street performance featuring towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers, and thundering drums. With brave vulnerability, they expose a power structure that permits and commits violence against women, and they open up about surviving violence in their own home. Their youth movement takes to the streets, confronting corruption and reclaiming public space for women and girls. Rooting their efforts in joy and community care, they find healing for themselves along the way. Comparsa is built on a 15-year relationship between the subjects and the film team to offer a stirring portrait of sisterhood, peacebuilding, and the transformational power of art.

Vickie Curtis (Director, Producer):

Comparsa is Vickie’s directorial debut after ten years of writing nonfiction films. Vickie has represented the Comparsa team at DOC NYC’s Industry Roundtables and also in Rio, when the project was selected for Doc Society’s 2024 Democracy Story Lab.

She received the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding nonfiction film writing on the Netflix Original, The Social Dilemma, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Vickie is drawn to stories that reveal the inhumane systems behind our existential crises, as well as stories about activated artists working to transform and transcend those systems.

Her work as a writer and story architect also includes the Emmy-winning Netflix film Chasing Coral (Sundance), The Appian Way/Highly Flammable film We Are Guardians (HotDocs), Searching For Amani (Tribeca), Island Soldier (HotDocs, PBS), Greener Pastures (Mountainflim, POV), and Frame By Frame (SXSW, Cinema Eye Nominee).

 

Doug Anderson (Director, Producer, Sound Recordist)

Doug is a filmmaker, producer, and sound engineer living in New York. Under the documentary production collective Paper Moth Media, Doug and his partner Sophie Luo have directed and produced work for social justice organizations and causes including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s history-making 2018 campaign.

Recent cinematography credits include To The End (Sundance 2022) and The Providers (Independent Lens). His sound credits include Knock Down The House (Netflix), To the End (Hulu), Pride (FX), Class Divide (HBO), and Bonding (Netflix). Doug is a graduate of Harvard University and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.