Santi Zegarra

Documentary short film. Peru–South Korea.

Video installation about the Peruvian poet César Vallejo.

Paris 2007. Elsa, a Peruvian trans woman, is serving a sentence in a men's prison. Sergio, a detainee, makes her his sex slave. Furthermore, the administration refuses her hormone treatment. When Elsa is released, she begins a new life and meets Yena, a young Korean woman who introduces her to Aymeric, her French husband. The attraction between Elsa and him is lightning-fast, calling into question her sexual identity. However, the final obstacle is Sergio. He has just escaped from prison.

It is the story of a young German student who shares a rather spacious and comfortable apartment with a French writer. However, a stranger is prowling the Parisian neighborhood in search of his missing wife.

It is a 17th-century epistolary theater classic depicting unrequited love. Written by an anonymous author, the work portrays Sor Mariana—cloistered in a Portuguese convent—as she pens five letters of love and passion to her absent French lover. Sorrow and despair consume this nun who, though wedded to God, is unfaithful in her obsession with the foreign officer. A longing for profane love and a descent into madness overtake her as the years pass inexorably until her death.

The documentary presents an uncompromising portrait of the great Cuban artist Jesús González de Armas. He began his career in the 1960s and pioneered animated cinema in his country. Later, he dedicated himself to the visual arts while maintaining his creative independence, eventually going into exile in Paris in 1992. He maintained that the roots of Cuban identity lay in indigenous Taíno culture, a theme he demonstrates in his bold, experimental artworks.

Documentary short film. Peru–South Korea.

Video installation about the Peruvian poet César Vallejo.

Paris 2007. Elsa, a Peruvian trans woman, is serving a sentence in a men's prison. Sergio, a detainee, makes her his sex slave. Furthermore, the administration refuses her hormone treatment. When Elsa is released, she begins a new life and meets Yena, a young Korean woman who introduces her to Aymeric, her French husband. The attraction between Elsa and him is lightning-fast, calling into question her sexual identity. However, the final obstacle is Sergio. He has just escaped from prison.

Paris 2007. Elsa, a Peruvian trans woman, is serving a sentence in a men's prison. Sergio, a detainee, makes her his sex slave. Furthermore, the administration refuses her hormone treatment. When Elsa is released, she begins a new life and meets Yena, a young Korean woman who introduces her to Aymeric, her French husband. The attraction between Elsa and him is lightning-fast, calling into question her sexual identity. However, the final obstacle is Sergio. He has just escaped from prison.

It is the story of a young German student who shares a rather spacious and comfortable apartment with a French writer. However, a stranger is prowling the Parisian neighborhood in search of his missing wife.

It is a 17th-century epistolary theater classic depicting unrequited love. Written by an anonymous author, the work portrays Sor Mariana—cloistered in a Portuguese convent—as she pens five letters of love and passion to her absent French lover. Sorrow and despair consume this nun who, though wedded to God, is unfaithful in her obsession with the foreign officer. A longing for profane love and a descent into madness overtake her as the years pass inexorably until her death.

The documentary presents an uncompromising portrait of the great Cuban artist Jesús González de Armas. He began his career in the 1960s and pioneered animated cinema in his country. Later, he dedicated himself to the visual arts while maintaining his creative independence, eventually going into exile in Paris in 1992. He maintained that the roots of Cuban identity lay in indigenous Taíno culture, a theme he demonstrates in his bold, experimental artworks.

This is a reflection on the megacity of Hong Kong, a hub of finance and international trade in Asia. At the heart of this 21st-century city lies a square dedicated to the fallen of the two world wars—a symbolic space that Filipina domestic workers literally claim as their own, gathering there every weekend during their weekly time off. They embody the export of labor: a commodity sacrificed on the altar of globalization.

This work draws inspiration from the theme "For the free movement of bodies and desires," featured at the 27th Instants Vidéo Digital and Poetic Festival in Marseille. Two individuals from elsewhere wander the outskirts of Paris. Who are they? She is Colombian, and he is Russian. In this video piece, they reveal their true gender identities: Giovanna Rincon and Roman Sorokine.

A documentary film depicting five intimate portraits of migrants who fled their country of origin to seek refuge in France and find a space of freedom where they can fully experience their sexuality and their sexual identity: Giovanna, woman transgender of Colombian origin, Roman, Russian transgender man, Cate, Ugandan lesbian mother, Yi Chen, young Chinese gay man…

A documentary film depicting five intimate portraits of migrants who fled their country of origin to seek refuge in France and find a space of freedom where they can fully experience their sexuality and their sexual identity: Giovanna, woman transgender of Colombian origin, Roman, Russian transgender man, Cate, Ugandan lesbian mother, Yi Chen, young Chinese gay man…

A documentary film depicting five intimate portraits of migrants who fled their country of origin to seek refuge in France and find a space of freedom where they can fully experience their sexuality and their sexual identity: Giovanna, woman transgender of Colombian origin, Roman, Russian transgender man, Cate, Ugandan lesbian mother, Yi Chen, young Chinese gay man…

I find inspiration in my travels around the world. This episode is a video creation capturing my discovery of Beijing and its iconic square—a symbol of both power and social dissent. The people appear lost. The contrast between scenes of everyday life and a country launched into a headlong transformation toward capitalism emerges with an unsettling beauty.

A boy from Villa El Salvador starts selling newspapers in downtown Lima. Despite his efforts, he doesn't manage to sell them all, but he is helped by a group of newsboys outside a factory.

My encounter with Dominican artist Raúl Recio in Paris was magical. His gallery, C. R. P. Arte Actual, invited me to create an experimental video about his artistic universe rooted in that Caribbean nation. In doing so, the artist delves into his obsessions, as well as the economics of sex and the role of institutionalized violence.

October 2, 2008: Forty years later, students return to the Plaza of the Three Cultures in the Tlatelolco neighborhood to pay a stirring tribute to the victims of the massacre—those who rose up against the Mexico '68 Olympic Games. Neither forgetting nor forgiveness.