Bittersweet Waters

The event I attended was centered around the film Bittersweet Waters/Agua Agridulce, directed by Jesús Canchola Sánchez in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month on October 15th in Stillman Hall . The film told the story of a young gay man named Atl, who is oppressed by both his community and his own family due to his sexuality. As shown in the movie, many of the more progressive cities in Mexico have legalized same sex marriage and the LGBTQ community is able to face less discrimination because of it. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for the more rural, conservative communities that are not accepting of anything less than a “traditional family” consisting of a husband and wife. Atl is in love with an engaged man that refuses to come out to the rest of the community. Although his fiancée suspects—and her suspicions are later confirmed—Diego believes he can have the best of both worlds by getting married to a woman while still maintaining his romantic relationship with Atl. Unfortunately, Atl wants more from life and is tired of the abuse from his mother and decides to leave the town to start anew somewhere else.

The best part of the discussion, in my opinion, was when the director stepped forward to speak about the making of the film and the audience discovered that he was also the lead actor we had just seen on screen. He is paving the way for many other stories similar to this one for people who may be too afraid to comment on a controversial and a not yet accepted way to love in Latinx communities. Jesús was able to use a medium that he was passionate about to present a controversial topic in a new and unique way. In the discussion part of the segment, he discussed what life was like for him during the shooting of this film and after. He revealed that the film was actually shot in the hometown of his grandfather in Mexico. He mentioned that although the scenes depicted were very rough and discriminatory, in reality the villagers welcomed him with open arms. When the crew didn’t have the proper setting for a scene or tools, the villagers opened their homes to him with astonishing hospitality. He mentioned that one of the most important messages he wanted to get across was that these topics need not be kept in the shadows anymore. The only way to get more people familiarized with the LGBTQ community is to make films such as Bittersweet Waters, and show them to as many people as possible.

Jesús is not in the filmmaking business to make money, in fact the entire production was funded by himself. He was the one who had to push film festival organizers to include his film in order to spread the word. This film and the discussion of this topic itself will have a profound impact on the international community, particularly within the Latinx population. We may believe we have fully progressed as Americans but with the current political climate, it feels as if we are taking giant leaps back. Because of this, Bittersweet Waters will remain relevant for many years to come.

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