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LESBIANS OF BUENOS AIRES
Director: Santiago García.
Director of Photography: Diana Quiroga.
Edited by: Julia Soto & Santiago García. Music by: N. Omar & J. Canet.
Released by: Strand Home Video.
Language: Spanish with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Argentina. 82 min. Not Rated.

Lesbians of Buenos Aires is a straightforward documentary of the lives of several women living in the capital of Argentina, each with a unique – and sometimes surprising – view of her life, in an area of the world where homosexuals are often openly harassed and arrested just for being who they are, and women, whether gay or straight, have limited freedom of expression, sexual or otherwise.

A vivid and personal narrative about theses women’s lives, the film follows one woman through her beloved football (soccer) practices, where she encourages younger women to pursue the sport. (For unexplained reasons, no one is identified.) It also features a gay and lesbian parade, similar to the one in New York City but much smaller. (The same woman criticizes the event, saying “There’s nothing to celebrate here.”) Mostly, however, the film consists of face-to-face interviews with an array of women, at home, in a car, or in the apartment where many live together, and this marks both its assets and limitations.

There are quietly heartbreaking moments, such as when one describes how after her parents found out about her homosexuality, they told her to leave their house, and when another was discouraged to pursue her passion, football, because teenage girls were not supposed to play the sport. There are funny moments, too, as when one is frying a “tortilla,” a word in Spanish that can mean omelet, but is also a derogatory word for lesbian. The young woman acknowledges the sting, but she is also smart: she laughs and says she feels funny asking her mother to make a tortilla – it’s like asking her mother to get her a lover.

However, the film concentrates only on these women, and shows practically nothing of the world they live in except in what they mention. Where are the families, the friends or the people who oppose them? They are referred to, but we never see them. The film becomes one sided and small in scope so that the richness of a specific reality in Latin America is not fully investigated. But all in all, the film has no grand ambitions, and though sometimes it feels incomplete, the women's specific experiences are well told. Roxana M. Ramirez, lawyer and journalist, formerly a member of the Peruvian Human Rights and Public Service Ombudsman
June 6, 2006