By: Daniel P’Lopez
Steven Morales Pineda was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, the hometown of pop singing sensation Shakira. Where many talents have arisen from. When Steven was seventeen, he moved to Bogotá, Colombia, to attend film school. It was a revelation for Steven because it was the city where he began his process of being authentic to himself. Coming from a small catholic family and town, and from a very early age, he knew he was attracted to men, and at this age, he started to experience the LGBTQ+ community.
After completing film school, he earned his master’s degree in screenwriting and began teaching film and screenwriting at a university in Bogotá. Steven eventually quit his job to focus on his own dreams and career and moved back to his hometown to start his own production company called Esuna Casa.
His first indie feature-length film is called Saltwater, or Agua Sala. Featuring Luis Mario Jimenez, who plays Jacobo, a man in his early thirties living as a yoga instructor from his home with his current boyfriend, played by Jhonatan Yerena. Then, news breaks out about Jose Luis, a priest, played by Oscar Salazar Ruiz, who returns to Jacobo’s life.
Jose Luis is being accused of child molestation in the media, and the two eventually reconnect after many years. Jacobo lives in a rundown steel house, but let’s Jose Luis move into his home. Jacobo feels for the priest, but the priest denies the past and leaves him in the dark once again.
Inspired by real events, and based on Steven’s real life of how he felt for a priest and still feels to this day. While writing the script, Steven researched the priest and imagined reconnecting with him, a man who was so important to him as an eight-year-old. The priest was very special to Steven and was his first love, or what an eight-year-old might consider love. So, Steven started reflecting on his life and thinking of what-ifs with this priest. To this day, he has no resentment and thinks of the love he felt for this priest.
“This is something that is very intimate, it’s very raw, it’s very awkward to write. It’s a love story that is going to be uncomfortable to watch, but it is love nonetheless.” Said Steven.
Steven knew his film would be a touchy subject for some viewers, especially Catholics, but assured that his film is not as controversial and is presented in a refined manner. From a human perspective, it is less controversial and more relatable to human nature, he explained.
For Steven’s first film, he wanted to focus on different subjects, “I want to talk about stuff that touched me and topics that I think have not had enough exposure in Colombian cinema.”
A real-life priest at a screening of the movie in Miami thanked Steven for the way he portrayed this topic on the screen and said, “It was beautifully done.”
Salt Water stands out from other films for its subject matter, and with a unique perspective, the movie explores themes of silence, guilt, and remorse. And is told from a unique and original point of view, without a typical gay film theme, the characters in his movie just happen to be LGBTQ+. Steven revealed to me in his interview.
Steven is currently working on a new film called ‘Our Name Is Mary,’ or Las Tres Marías. It is about three teenage boys navigating their identities in a machismo town in Colombia. A film that also comes from his experiences and the challenges he faced growing up, hiding in the closet. This film is expected to be released by early next year.
Steven writes, directs, and produces his movies. He also has a dog, a French bulldog named Goku, who loves to take walks with him and go to the beach. Steven loves to write and is going back to teaching. Steven admits that his past still scars him and that he made this film as part of a cathartic process for himself. Thinking his past would be resolved, and once he saw his life on the big screen, his life would be a lot better, and he would overcome that trauma.
“I’m still that wounded child inside, that person that still is unable to love properly or choose wisely their partners. It left a huge scar on how I see love and how I perceive someone loving me.” Said Steven.
Steven also revealed that in Barranquilla, there is a saying that whenever something is weighing on you, or you are grieving, or having bad luck, you can go to the ocean facing backwards. The salt water will wash away your sorrows and pain, much like a scene in the movie.
Saltwater had a theatrical release in Colombia and is now out on Digital release.
To learn more about the movie and about Steven, you can follow him on Instagram @aguasalapelicula
@soystivo