24/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: Joris Lachaise’s documentary champions a basic human right: to be seen for who you are, and not be judged by appearances

Raise a hand if you’ve ever heard of an odder couple: a FARC fighter and trans sex worker. The individuals in question are Jaison and Laura, and they fell in love in a Colombian prison they were both sentenced to a stretch in. Yet Transfariana [+see also:
trailer
interview: Joris Lachaise
film profile] by Joris Lachaise is not about exoticising its protagonists. This pure and empathetic documentary shown in the Panorama section of the Berlinale affords us a useful insight into the communities that have been, or still are, stigmatised and discriminated against. The look goes beyond skin-deep, and gives a curious perspective on groups that have usually been presented on film as exciting or curious peripheral characters. The personal is political here, and the political is very personal as well.

Laura, a trans woman, was sentenced to 60 years behind bars, mostly for crimes she didn’t commit. She wasn’t innocent either – as a sex worker, she was a lure for men, who were later robbed. While in jail, she was transferred to a wing where she met Jaison, a FARC member, who called himself a political prisoner. He is an intellectual type and not a violent partisan who kidnapped or killed people. After Laura became his girlfriend, Jaison was kicked out of FARC because of it, and was later readmitted. It’s somewhat ironic that an organisation that was fighting for freedom was at some point pushing for a homogenic and heteronormative, macho society. Then it changed its mind. And – after the peace treaty was under way – it invited a trans women to join up (hence the film’s title: a fariana was a female guerilla).

Lachaise follows Jaison after his release and uses videos recorded during his time in prison, as well as some other archive footage, also from FARC political rallies (as some of its members, after the signing of a treaty in Havana and the organisation being disbanded in 2017, opted for a legitimate political career). That story intertwines with the rallies and struggles of trans women. They’re colourful, they’re loud, and they are making progress with their struggle, albeit with small steps. Since 1993, they’ve no longer been punished for wearing female garments, and in the film, we see a policeman saying that no matter which sex is marked on their ID card, whoever feels like a woman is a woman.

In their own words, they explain that there is more to their identity than drag clothes, big hair and extravagant make-up. And that throws up what is probably the most pertinent question today: how does one build one’s identity in today’s fluid world? Which elements, words and narratives should we use when building the notion of the “self”? This 144-minute documentary gives no answers, but pointedly asks this question. By spending this much time with Jaison, Laura, Lulu and others, seeing how they evolve, and how society really doesn’t, it becomes almost heartbreaking. Because even though Jaison is out, and his former girlfriend isn’t, he is still fighting to be released from the prison of bias and distrust.

Transfariana is French-Colombian documentary produced by Marseille-based production outfit Mujō and Romeo, based in Bogotá. The co-producer is Fuega, also from the latter city. MPM Premium is selling the film internationally.