New documentary features late Acton cinematographer’s work

The life of Concordian Sebastián Lasaosa Rogers ended this spring. His work in cinematic storytelling lives on. 

“Comparsa,” an award-winning documentary about sisters in Guatemala who “use art and performance to expose, denounce, and heal from violence targeting women and girls,” has its U.S. premiere Wednesday at the 34th Woods Hole Film Festival. 

Rogers, the film’s first cinematographer, died in April at age 35 while surfing off Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York. After moving to Acton with his family as a boy, he graduated from Acton-Carlisle High School. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University and pursued a life in film while advancing multiple social causes. 

“I first met Sebastián in 2016, working in freelance film production in New York City. He was in his mid-20s, I in my early 30s. We quickly discovered that we had grown up just miles from each other,” the film’s director, Doug Anderson, told The Acton Bridge. 

Anderson grew up in Wayland, as did co-director Vickie Curtis and producer Anna Hadingham.

“In 2019, when it came time to head down to Guatemala for the first ‘Comparsa’ shoot, Sebastián was my first choice of cinematographer. When I proposed it, he was immediately game,” Anderson said in an email. 

“Comparsa” had its U.K. premiere at the Sheffield DocFest, where its depiction of the challenges faced by Central American women and girls captured the Grand Jury Award in the International First Feature Competition and Shine Global’s Children’s Resilience in Documentary award.

Rogers was “an ideal collaborator. His creative energy was consistently playful and positive, exuding curiosity. His shooting style was athletic and nimble,” Anderson said, adding he “never wanted to take shortcuts.”

While his work ethic and eye both impressed, “it was Sebastián’s kindness, humor, and compassion that came through in every frame,” Anderson said. 

After Rogers’s untimely death, producer Olivia Ahnemann of Marblehead “helped bring the project across the finish line,” according to a news release on the documentary.

“The film delves into sensitive topics,” Anderson said, “and it is largely a testament to Sebastián that our collaborators felt comfortable sharing personal reflections with honest emotion while the camera was rolling.”

To learn more about “Comparsa,” visit woodsholefilmfestival.org/events/comparsa.