Invisible Defenders

Director

Sabian Marrero

Type

Feature Documentary

Status

In Production

Invisible Defenders centers the voices of queer and feminist organizers confronting fascism, settler colonialism, femicide, and gender-based violence. Through personal testimony and collective resistance, the film reveals how they dismantle oppressive systems while building community power, cultivating joy as strategy, and embedding care as an infrastructure for liberation. This is a testament to lived power and unshakable vision, even in the face of political violence and erasure.

In a world shaped by erasure and systemic violence, Invisible Defenders reveals how queer and feminist organizers are confronting fascism, settler colonialism, and gendered brutality while actively constructing frameworks for communal survival. Through on-the-ground footage and personal storytelling, the film explores how these individuals resist not just through protest, but through the deliberate cultivation of care, culture, and joy as long-term strategies for liberation. Integrating shadow puppetry and visual traditions from the Arab world and the Global South, Invisible Defenders challenges dominant cinematic narratives and centers the artistry of resistance. It does not ask for sympathy—it asserts presence. At once intimate and insurgent, the film reclaims space for those long written out of the frame and amplifies voices building the future under siege.

Director's Statement:

Invisible Defenders is a film born out of necessity. As a queer Puerto Rican raised in rural Georgia and shaped by the colonial wounds of my homeland, I’ve lived at the intersection of visibility and erasure. This project is a vessel for the truths that rarely reach mainstream platforms—truths about survival, power, memory, and collective resistance that defy whitewashed narratives of struggle. I’ve worked across mediums—from movement to sound to visual storytelling—not for prestige, but because it’s how I stay alive. Film, for me, is not a career move. It’s a ritual technology. A way to hold space for the quiet truths, the psychic injuries, and the creative insurgencies that keep us going. This film is not about trauma—it’s about lived power. The kind of power that persists even when unrecognized. The kind that resists through mutual care, erotic joy, and creative disruption. I do not believe in objectivity. I believe in accountability. I do not believe in neutrality. I believe in justice. And I do not believe in spectacle. I believe in presence. This project is being shaped relationally—with the people in it, not just about them. It is informed by non-Western visual traditions, particularly shadow puppetry rooted in Arab and Global South practices, as a way to subvert dominant film grammar and reclaim how resistance looks, feels, and moves. Invisible Defenders is not a film that asks for permission. It is a declaration. A celebration. A refusal to disappear. And it is made in deep reverence to those who fight with nothing but spirit, community, and an unbreakable sense of who they are.

Director — Sabian Marrero:

Sabian Marrero is a Queer Puerto Rican transdisciplinary artist and former professional athlete currently living in Barcelona, Spain. Throughout their life they have worked across various mediums—shaped by accessibility—to express their experiences and confront systemic injustices. Drawing from their upbringing in rural Georgia and the socio-political realities of Puerto Rico, their work focuses on social justice, intersectional identity, human rights, and normalizing conversation about mental health. Currently, Sabian Marrero is developing projects in film and podcasting, constantly expanding in different creative forms to ignite transformative conversations.

Acknowledging Donors:

Presentation Credit

$75,000 or more

Company logo featured at the top of the film.
Up to four Executive Producer credits in the main titles.

In Association With Credit

$30,000–$74,999

Company logo featured at the top of the film.
Up to two Executive Producer credits in the main titles.

Executive Producer Credit

$15,000–$29,999

Executive Producer credit in the main titles.
Additional Executive Producer credits can be acquired for an additional 2.5% of the total budget.

Co Executive Producer Credit

$11,000–$14,999

Co-Executive Producer credit in the main titles or end credits.

Contributing Producer Credit

$3,000–$10,999

Contributing Producer credit in the end credits.

Additional Funding Credit

$1,500–$2,999

Inclusion in the 'This film was made possible with the support of' or 'Additional funding by' section of the end credits.

Thanks Credit

$300–$1,499

Inclusion in the 'Thanks' section of the end credits.

Please note that contributions to this documentary are considered charitable donations and not investments. Donors are eligible for tax deduction, but may not receive any financial return or profit from the success of the film. If you would like to make an investment instead, please contact the filmmakers.