A Warm Welcome to Our Story.
I am Holly Wissler, an ethnomusicologist, music lecturer at Texas State University, and longtime tour leader in Cusco, Peru. My relationship with the Indigenous Quechua community of Q’eros began through years of PhD research into its musical rituals. I never imagined that this work would lead me to Dante or that he would eventually become my son.
It broke my heart that Dante had to leave his home country of Peru simply to receive an education beyond elementary school. That reality compelled me to make this documentary, not only to tell Dante’s story, but to bring attention to the profound lack of language access, Deaf education, and rights for Deaf people in Peru.
This is a project deeply from the heart, and I invite you to discover our story.
Summary
When American music researcher Holly Wissler becomes godmother to Dante, a Deaf boy growing up without language access in the high Andes of Peru, a field study takes an unexpected turn.
At age eight, Dante begins learning Peruvian Sign Language, and his world opens.
What follows is a twenty-year journey neither could have imagined: from the Andes to the United States, from godmother and godson to mother and son, through adoption, immigration, education, and profound personal change.
Told through intimate home footage, Dante’s Story begins in Q’eros, where Dante and his grandparents reveal the attitudes, isolation, and discrimination surrounding deafness within his Indigenous Quechua community. The lens then widens to Lima, where Deaf advocate Junior García brings the story to the national level, confronting broader struggles for Deaf education, language access, and fundamental rights across Peru. Spanning these worlds, the film reveals the transformative power of language, love, and belonging—and a struggle that resonates far beyond Peru’s borders.