“Anhell69” presents a first-person essay on a violent Medellín

In his first-person documentary “Anhell69,” with restraint and respect, Colombian director Theo Montoya travels through contemporary Medellín in a hearse, a potent reminder of that deadly environment, one in which “bullets wrote our past.” Montoya describes Medellín as ”a country at war, a land of thieves, colonized land.” In an illuminating seventy-five minutes, “Anehll69” particularizes those assertions with informative details.

Calm, measured voiceover narration and on-screen interviews establish “this cemetery” of Medellín where “you can not see the horizon,” a literal and metaphoric description due to homophobic prejudice. Montoya interweaves his casting discussions for a planned vampire film with footage of military crackdowns and informal group interaction, at times in clubs. He notes that the government and church representatives are committed to social cleansing.

The visuals depict a violent, homophobic culture, a harsh, cruel reality contrasting with Montoya’s humane approach to all his subjects. Most painfully for Montoya, the man chosen as the vampire film protagonist, twenty-one-year old Camilo Najar, will be dead of an overdose within a week. Prompted by that, other drug deaths, and several suicides, Montoya dedicates this film to the many victims, including other men Montoya introduces in the course of his professional and personal life.

In what he labels his “trans film,” Montoya details the nihilistic world of these outsiders who, as a result, seek relief through worldly pleasures. Even the title “Anhell69” expresses the idea of angels trapped within the hellish treatment of the queer Medellín community. This leads to spectrophilia, a sexual attraction to ghosts, a symbol of rebellion triggered by the lack of cemetery space. As a result, ghosts must coexist with the living, leading to hunters intent on annihilating them. “Anhell69” is a perceptive snapshot of a shocking, tragic city.

In Spanish with English subtitles, “Anhell69” screens at Webster University’s Winifred Moore auditorium Friday, August 30, through Sunday, September 1, at 7:30 each evenings.  For more information, you may visit the film series website.