Memoria y silencio en personas LGBTQ+ adultas en Ecuador : aproximación desde el testimonio protegido en el documental “después de la lluvia".

Abstract

The short documentary film “Después de la lluvia” (After the Rain) was born out of a desire to give voice to a life that spent too long in silence. Through the anonymous testimony of an adult member of the LGBTQ+ community, the project shows us how fear marked a life that could never be freely expressed. Although their story reflects the reality of many people who grew up in an Ecuador where being different meant putting everything they had at risk, and although many of these people now live freely, one of the biggest problems in creating the documentary was that the person who gave us their testimony refused to appear on camera. Their absence is a response to the fear that persists of being seen. Because of this situation, his story is narrated by an actor, a resource that protects his identity and highlights the complexity of talking about one's own experience. Even today, expressing certain anecdotes or experiences is often still complex and fraught with fear. The representation of memory in this project is reconstructed through photographs that preserve memories of a life marked by silence. These elements allow us to approach the emotional experience of someone who found in concealment a form of resistance, which persists even though current laws protect their existence, society still does not. “After the Rain” is articulated as a mechanism for a voice that for years had no space to express itself. The documentary offers an intimate look at the tension between personal desire and social norms and creates a space to recognize stories that did not reach the public sphere but are an essential part of a country's emotional memory.