On The Scene: Academy Award Nominated Short Film ‘Saria’ Special Screening

The Oscar-nominated Short Film (Live Action), Saria, was screened at the Crosby Street Hotel this past Wednesday in Lower Manhattan.

Written and directed by Bryan Buckley, Saria is based on the true story of 41 Guatemalan girls losing their lives in the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home orphanage fire.

Following the film’s screening was an extensive and fairly emotional Q&A. Buckley explained that he created the film after learning about the fire and being consumed by this story that was a mere news blip to the rest of the world. He mentioned that his mother was also an orphan which drew him closer to the issue. Buckley talked through his process in creating the film, which included casting all the orphan girl characters from a real-life girl’s orphanage in Mexico City. 

Buckley did momentarily choke up when talking about the importance of the film.

He said, “We’re at a place where class is different than life”, finishing his point reiterating that every human life is equal.

Estephany Raquel Arreaga Jimenez, a first responder to the fire and Guatemalan activist who has worked to support the 15 survivors, also participated in the Q&A. She gave insight on how the survivors of the tragedy are being treated and explained exactly what happened to the girls at the orphanage. Arreaga Jimenez spoke primarily Spanish so her translator helped convey her message to the mostly English speaking audience. 

Through the translator, Arreaga Jimenez said that many of the girls in the orphanage were being mistreated, physically abused, raped and were possibly victims of human trafficking which is information that the survivors conveyed to her. The translator choked up when she relayed to the audience that Arreaga Jimenez and her team spent 22 days in the morgue sorting out the girl’s bodies.

The most astounding issue mentioned was that the only people who were being charged for the loss of the 41 girls lives are the survivors. Not the orphanage, not the Guatemalan government, but the 15 children who survived the fire. A few questions later the Q&A came to an end and the crowd eerily dispersed, half-stunned, now facing the reality that the film they’d all just watched was based on real events. 

Photos Courtesy of Tessa M. Dobrow and Hungry Man Productions.