VIRAGO: A short film about finding your inner chingona

VIRAGO is a dramedy that focuses on SARAIT, a Latina in her 20’s, moving on past a breakup while grieving the loss of her mother. At the wake for her mother SARAIT’s boyfriend drops the news that he no longer wants to be together, and soon after she learns about his repeated infidelities. As her world seems to fall to pieces, SARAIT finds strength and love from her community and her self that encourages her to transform all the pain she’s experiencing into art. She embraces her inner Chingona and learns to celebrate change, and use loss as an opportunity for growth.

 My entire life I've been led by family members, friends, tv shows, movies, magazines, story books, strangers, etc. to believe that when you find true love...it lasts. And if it doesn't last...then it wasn't true love. After a brief moment of sadness, you will find your REAL true love. I watched breakups on TV be washed away and forgotten in a single episode, maybe less, maybe a quick montage of crying and ice cream followed by the next infatuation. Young Yessenia thought, "WOW! Breakups are easy!" 

Fast forward to my first big breakup.

WHERE IS MY 3 MINUTE MONTAGE?

 WHERE WAS MY TRUE LOVE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO COME FIND ME A DAY LATER AND SWEEP ME OFF MY FEET??? 

(PS - STILL HERE)

(PSS- NAH, DON'T NEED YOU. I AM MY OWN WHOLE.) 

Yea...so...none of those things happened. I reached out to my favorite medium for comfort, art.

To my surprise, I couldn't find something that I related to. Something that showed the truemess of emotions I was feeling.

I need #morethanthemontage 

So, I sat down and wrote what I was going through. And people seemed to relate to it, and it made me want to share more.

I found myself feeling whole from connecting to others through writing.