Alén

In the streets of Cali, Colombia, a teenager in a cap and headphones moves through the city to the pulse of electronic music, a tattoo appointment and band rehearsal marking the rhythm of the day. Alén, Miguel and Irene are putting together a night with their band, and once the party starts, beer, a striptease and impassioned speeches about women's emancipation and the freedom of the body blend into the sound of a generation in transit. Drawn from a true story and shot with cinematographer Oscar Ruiz Navia, Natalia Imery Almario's 25-minute fiction short frames Alén's gender identity within a wider portrait of Cali's youth subcultures, where self-expression is both a party and a political act. The film emerged from Universidad del Valle and was recognized at the Cartagena International Film Festival and Argentina's Libercine festival of sexual and gender diversity.