Lovers in the Sky

(Amantes en el cielo)
Fermín de la Serna | Documentary

2025 | 78 minutes | Peru, Argentina

Two trans cooks on cargo ships in the Peruvian Amazon navigate faith, family, and identity as they reconsider who they are and where they belong today.

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Synopsis

Lovers in the Sky follows Cristina and La Bonita, two transgender cooks who have spent decades working aboard cargo boats that navigate the rivers of the Peruvian Amazon. Living and working between Pucallpa and Iquitos, they have occupied the roles society has assigned them: cooks, caregivers, sex workers, and providers for their families.

Cristina sees her life as a blessing and is determined to fulfill a promise made to her late mother, while dreaming of becoming a godfather. La Bonita, haunted by the fear of burning forever in hell, seeks acceptance within the evangelical church. As they confront faith, desire, work, family, and the expectations placed upon their bodies, both women reveal identities that resist fixed categories.

Through their intimate stories and the vastness of the Amazon, the film explores gender not as a fixed destination, but as an evolving process, entering the uncertain territory of post-identity.

Reviews

“It’s an important film because queer cinema often revolves around the affirmation of identity — and sometimes that affirmation, rooted in the very idea of the identical, can be somewhat reactionary. Identities are often thought of as archetypes.” — Diego Trerotola, Festival Asterisco

“Fermín de la Serna captures Indigenous and queer lives with stunning cinematography, empathy, and realism, reflecting gender as an evolving, reclaiming process shaped by colonial history.” — Melbourne Queer Film Festival

“The documentary approaches its subjects with respect and crafts a mise-en-scène and cinematography that allow us to understand this decision. It also captures the vastness of the Peruvian rainforest, contrasting it with the reality and vulnerability of its people.” — Peruvian Association of Film Critics

Citation

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Keywords
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Clips
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Festivals

San Francisco Latino Film Festival; Melbourne Queer Film Festival; SANFIC Santiago International Film Festival: Krakov Film Festival; Queer Lisboa; OutfestPerú LGBT Film Festival – Best Feature, APRECI Award; Vancouver Latin American Film Festival

DIRECTOR: Fermín de la Serna

NATIONALITY: Peru, Argentina

YEAR: 2025

GENRE: Documentary

LANGUAGE: Spanish

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: College, Adult

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

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