Maria Agui Carter
Writer and director Maria Agui Carter brings us Rebel, a project she’s been working on for over a decade. It’s the story of officer Harry T. Buford, whose real name was Loreta Janeta Velazquez. Born in Havana, Cuba and raised in New Orleans. Velazquez masqueraded as a man and was a soldier and spy for the Confederacy during the American Civil War—more than once, in fact. She fought at Bull Run and other bloody encounters, and when her gender was discovered in New Orleans, she simply re-enlisted, then went on to fight in the battle of Shiloh before she was discovered yet again.
Velazquez is portrayed by actress Romi Dias (All Night Bodega, El Cantante). “Rebel is a detective story,” she says, “about a woman, a myth, and the politics of national memory.”
Rebel premiered on Friday, May 24 at 10P on PBS’s Voces.
Watch Rebel – Preview on PBS. See more from VOCES.
