In a port city off the coast of Panama there is a dance steeped in folkloric tradition that chronicles the age-old battle between good and evil—a dance that breaks the yoke of oppression and overcomes the horror of servitude. In the days preceding Lent, the residents of Portobelo dance to remember the suffering of their African ancestors and to honor the sacrifices they made in pursuit of freedom. 

“Today the dance of the Congos gives these communities a sense of pride,” says Gonzo Llorente, a filmmaker based in Buenos Aires and São Paulo. “The dance is also a source of income throughout carnival,” which locals earn by holding revellers to ‘ransom’ for thousands of dollars (but usually a token sum is humorously and readily accepted).

Residents dress up as ‘diablos’—or devils—carrying whips and wearing elaborate costumes to represent white colonial oppressors. Others wear the tattered clothing of the ‘Congos,’ the enslaved Africans who escaped Spanish plantations to establish independent communities in the mountains. 

“With this short documentary I wanted to help spread the word of this beautiful tradition that has origins in terrible circumstances,” says Llorente, “but represents the indomitable spirit of these communities and the bond they still have with their ancestors.