Tango Rojo - Queer Cinema in Paraguay

Welcome to the Tango Rojo crowdfunding campaign. The objective of this initiative is to obtain funding to facilitate the shooting of this short film. We invite you to learn more about our proposal:

A Paraguayan Drag Queen singer gets ready for a show when his boyfriend tells him he is HIV+. The singer takes it easy and goes on stage, but his fears arise during the night and he realizes he isn’t as open-minded as he thought.

Tango Rojo is a short film about contradiction: about discovering yourself and unveiling stereotypes and hidden fears. Finding yourself fallible, but being willing to assume it and to grow/learn from it. It’s also a film that talks about HIV from a contemporary approach, based on affective responsibility and love.

Based on the director’s Drag Queen experience, Tango Rojo bets on reflecting Asuncion’s nightlife with characters and places typical of the local queer community: working with actors/actresses who interpret everyday situations of their lives, but adapted to fiction. Also, we will shot in real and famous places located in Asuncion. This short film will have a naturalistic acting tone, except for the protagonist, who will overflow this register by embodying his Drag Queen counterpart, who will be present even offstage.

Tango Rojo is also a film that bets on non-hegemonic bodies and on a search for LGBTIQ identity taking our Latin American roots as a starting point.

Seven years ago I was in a serodiscordant relationship. Getting to know the virus through my ex-boyfriend helped me to face my own fears and prejudices and showed me that I wasn’t as open as I thought. I learned that HIV isn’t deathly anymore, that a simple condom is enough to protect yourself, and above all, that it cannot deprive anyone of love.

I’m from a conservative country and I studied in a Catholic school for 14 years. I learned to be afraid of my body, of sex, of assuming my affections, and of sin. Happily, I was able to overcome this period, come out of the closet, and even explore my female side through Drag Queen Art. However, sometimes I found myself conflicted by things I thought I had overcome.

This short film tells the story of Manu (a Paraguayan Queer Artist) who, despite his knowledge about HIV, still feels insecure when finds out his boyfriend is seropositive. Manu finds it hard to admit that what he says doesn’t match his feelings because it goes against his statement. Tango Rojo is a film about contradiction, about assuming yourself fallible and accepting a continuous learning process.

I want to make this film to vindicate the voice of the Paraguayan Queer community which coexists and resists in a macho and conservative environment. I want to make this film to talk about HIV from a positive and contemporary point of view, based on affective responsibility and love.

Paraguayan filmmaker, singer, and Queer artist. Graduated in Communication and the major in Film Directing at the EICTV (Cuba). His work addresses issues related to human rights and the LGBTIQ+ community from his experience as a Queer person.

His short films have been awarded at national and international festivals. Among the acknowledgments, the following stand out: “First place” to Call me Mateo (2020) in the CINECORTO IMPULSE - MAGUEY AWARD at the FICG in Mexico, and “Best National Short Film'' for Blessed Be Your Purity (2018) at the XIV Paraguay International Film Festival of LGBTI Cinema.

His pursuit expands with Andrómeda, his Drag Queen singer alterego, with whom he explores Latin American folklore through music. He has been selected for the Berlinale Talent 2022.

Filmmaker and visual artist from Nicaragua. She holds a degree in Social Communication and graduate in the specialty of Production from the International School of Film and Television (EICTV). She has been selected for the training space Conecta at BAM 2019, Open Doors at the Locarno Film Festival in 2022, and Docco Lab in Cartagena in 2023.

As a producer, she has developed documentary feature projects, fiction and documentary short films, and television. She has taught Production at the UCA in Nicaragua, in the Audiovisual Production workshops of the Honduran initiative: Una Mirada Propia. She has also worked as a production consultant at EICTV in Cuba.

She is also the creator and coordinator of CineClub de Barrio, a film forum project in collaboration with independent cultural spaces in the capital of Nicaragua. She currently works as the head of the Distribution Department at EICTV.

She began her career in production at Ciné Sud Promotion. She started Parati Films with the goal of creating a cinematic exchange program, most notably between France and the countries of Latin America. The dynamism of the four areas of Parati Films – event organization, subtitle & translation, production and teaching production management – has resulted in collaborations with countless professionals from the world of cinema and international festivals. One such example is the Cannes Film Festival, where since 2011 Parati has been the official partner of the Institut Francais and Séverine is in charge of the selection of projects and the coordination of the La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde program. She also teaches International Coproduction at the EICTV (Cuba) and Film Production at the master level in Paris. She is focusing part of her work also on Crok Cine – the Education and the Image Project – focus on social mix in France, using auteur cinema as a tool.

The crew of Tango Rojo is mostly made up of a talented team from Paraguay, in which has been added too, the Brazilian Director of Photography Bruno Polidoro and the French-Paraguayan sound designer Martin De Lemos.

The filming of this project will start in the last weeks of December 2023, with post-production work occurring between February and September 2024.The rewards to the supporters of this campaign will be delivered between October and November 2024.

Subsequently, the film will be submitted to festivals, and we will seek opportunities for its circulation in Latin America, Europe, and all territories.

We hope to promote the film not only to a wide audience, but also to the LGBTIQ+ community and people living with HIV.

Find out all the news about the project at: tangorojo_cortocuir

Thank you for your support!