The documentary follows Lesli and Lupe Canela Pérez’s work with young people in Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala.

What can art do when a community is carrying grief? Comparsa approaches that question through two sisters who put creativity into practice with the young people around them.

According to Cinema Tropical’s release announcement, the documentary follows Lesli and Lupe Canela Pérez in Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala. After the 2017 Hogar Seguro fire killed 41 girls, including their childhood friend Siona, the sisters mobilized local youth through a comparsa, a street performance involving puppets, drums, poetry, dance, and other forms of expression.

Directed by Vickie Curtis and Doug Anderson, the film includes Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante among its executive producers. Lesli is also the film’s co-writer and co-producer. That credit matters: a person at the center of the story also has a role in shaping how it is told.

Comparsa reached New York’s DCTV Firehouse Cinema for a one-week engagement October 9–15, following an international festival run that included a Grand Jury Award at Sheffield DocFest. The announced New York run continues through October 15; check DCTV’s listings for remaining screenings and the film’s distributors for future engagements.

For generation ñ readers, the premise raises questions that go beyond one film. Who gets to describe a neighborhood? What happens when young people are given the tools to create something together? How can a public performance make room for memory while also making room for joy?

Those are useful questions to bring to a screening. Rather than expecting one documentary to explain Guatemala, we can approach it as an encounter with specific people, a specific place, and the work they choose to do.

The sisters’ project offers a compelling reason to keep Comparsa on your watchlist. Their story asks us to consider community art as an activity people build together, with time, imagination, and care.