This year’s theme for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge (EDFC) is buddy comedy. However, filmmaker Krista Villatoro, an alumna of the 2021 RespectAbility Entertainment and News Media Fellowship, takes a unique approach with this theme by making her buddy absent in the film. No Sabo is a short film about Villatoro’s adventures, or lack thereof, in Guatemala. The short film not only stars Villatoro, but is also directed, shot, and edited by her.
Founded by Nic Novicki, the EDFC is an annual five-day competition in which filmmakers must create original three-to-five minute films based on a different theme each year.
The film begins with a voicemail from Villatoro’s friend wishing her the best in Guatemala. From there, viewers hear Villatoro record a voice memo for her friend detailing her time in Guatemala, which hasn’t been much. Her parents are in meetings all day, and she isn’t allowed to venture out on her own because, she thinks, her parents are afraid she might be kidnapped, as well as due to her poor Spanish.
The only time she recalls doing something is when her parents took her to church where viewers see her getting prayed upon by church members and a pastor trying to “heal” her legs, which she jokingly tells her friend that her financial aid might be revoked if she were to walk again (Villanova became paralyzed in 2005 from a spinal lymphoma).
No Sabo is a witty and really well-made film, especially considering she did this on her own. Villatoro uses wide shots throughout the film, which emphasizes her isolation and boredom that emphasizes her seclusion. The title, “no sabo” is the incorrect Spanish phrase for “I don’t know.” It also is a phrase used for young LatinX who aren’t fluent in Spanish. This term perfectly captures her lackluster feelings in the film, being in a place she feels secluded and unfamiliar with.
