Journalist, Writer, Editor
Sep 2, 2023
AleHope was held at Fleisher Art Memorial on Saturday, Aug. 26. It auctioned art from community members and showcased Ceballos’ work to help pay his medical bills.
It’s been a rollercoaster year to say the least for Monica Herrera, but on Saturday, Aug. 26, she couldn’t help but feel the love of her community.
The setting was Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philly, and the more-than-century-old institution for the arts was hosting a fundraiser for Herrera’s partner, filmmaker Alejandro Ceballos.
It was called AleHope, and brought artists from across Philadelphia’s Latino community to auction their work, eat, drink, and also view some of Ceballos’ films. The goal was to raise money to help pay for Ceballos’ medical bills on the road to recovery from a pulmonary embolism that he suffered in February of this year.
Ceballos was also in attendance, and used a walker to get around — a symbol of all that he’d been through this year, but also how far he’d come in his recovery.
“It was really sudden,” Herrera said of the medical emergency that hospitalized Ceballos for three months. “It was really bad.”
He suffered two heart attacks, brain damage, and was in the intensive care unit for two months before he could begin his recovery, relearning how to walk, talk, and care for himself. But much like what was on display last Saturday at Fleisher, Herrera also had reasons to remain hopeful.
“Even though it was a really stressful time, and it was pretty awful, there was one thing that was amazing,” she said. “It was the power of community.”
That can take many forms, such as a fundraiser to help pay for medical bills, but in the early days of Ceballos’ emergency, it meant not being alone in the hospital. Herrera says Ceballos never was throughout his long stay, with friends from the community often dropping by to check on him.
“We believe in the power of love,” said Benjamin Gamarra, a friend of Ceballos who met him through a cousin already in the States when Alejandro arrived. “Although that is not told often, but in action it is very present.”
On June 26, 2023, a GoFundMe was launched to help Ceballos continue to pay for his recovery. So far, it’s raised more than $47,000, but is still more than $27,000 short of the $75,000 goal.
Pedro Molteni, who was manning the bar at the fundraiser and also met Ceballos through a cousin, expanded on the importance of that love, especially for the immigrant communities Ceballos’ endeared himself to.
The filmmaker was born in Colombia, but also lived and worked in Venezuela and Mexico before settling in Philly. He’s reconnected with those communities in the city, and also branched out into others, like the Indonesian community.
“When you are not from the U.S., you don’t have your most important support system, which is your family,” said Molteni. “But friends have come together in doing that.”
“Having a community that will do an event like this and donate, and be so generous, and so warm, and so open to support somebody in need,” he continued. “It just restores your faith in the very idea of what a community is.”
It’s also a kindness and love that bled into Ceballos’ work as a filmmaker. Herrera called him “humble” with his work, “but when you see his work, it’s like you can see Alejandro.”
“You can see the silence, the quietness, how he’s so tender and loving,” she continued.
In his home country, Ceballos worked to highlight the narratives of the proud, but often neglected Afro-Colombian community. Chakero, one of the short films he’s worked on that was also shown at the fundraiser, is set in San Basilio de Palenque, a symbolic hub of the community for being officially the first free African town in the Americas. The film tells the story of a grandson attempting to get help for his ailing grandfather. In the process, the grandson learns about his grandfather’s past as a ‘chakero,’ or someone who would bring news from town to town, and his community’s African traditions.
“It’s really, really rich,” Herrera said of the culture. “Not just in their heritage, but all the knowledge that the women carry, and the connection to the land and water.”
In Philadelphia, before his medical emergency, Ceballos was using his connections to many communities to begin work on projects that highlighted immigrant communities, and their many individual stories that can relate with others across cultures and parts of the world. They would often also focus on themes of social justice.
“I think when you’re an immigrant, you sometimes might want to hide where you come from,” said Herrera. “But Alejandro’s work was a way for people to communicate and share with others.”
The hope among all attendees, was that Alejandro could get back to doing that work sooner rather than later.
To donate to his GoFundMe and help with his medical costs and more, visit here.