Between Worlds: Lesbian Displacement In Fina Torres’s Liz In September (2014)

This article explores lesbian displacement as a spatial politics of world-making through an analysis of the film Liz in September (2014) by Venezuelan director Fina Torres. Drawing from a theoretical corpus that integrates Venezuelan studies, spatial theory, and film studies, I analyse the cinematic techniques – such as camera work, composition, and mise en scène – that bring to life the experiences of a group of seven women with same-sex desires. These women shuttle between Caracas, a city entrenched in state policies that promote heterosexuality, and a coastal refuge free from sexual constraint. I argue that this movement gives rise to what I term “oscillatory displacement”, understood as a collective practice through which lesbian characters curate an alternative world within national territories. This world materialises onscreen through the characters’ oscillating movement, creating an oppositional lesbian gaze that offers visual pleasure outside New Venezuelan Cinema’s male-centred visual economies. In this way, Liz in September challenges the prevailing masculinist preoccupations in contemporary Venezuelan filmic production and the heterosexist frameworks that shape Venezuelan society. The film, I propose, invites us to reimagine concrete possibilities for Venezuelan futures beyond the heteronormative logics that have long constrained national identity and belonging.