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Selena Gomez is coming to the big screen in the upcoming biopic In the Shadow of the Mountain, about famous Peruvian mountaineer and social entrepreneur Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In 2016, Vasquez-Lavado climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest.
Vasquez-Lavado was the first Peruvian woman to climb Mt. Everest and the first out gay woman to complete the seven summits, where a mountaineer must climb the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents. She is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and an advocate for fellow survivors. Her work in survivor circles is widely praised and celebrated, especially her work organizing trips to Everest for women who survived abuse like she did.
In 2014, she founded Courageous Girls, a nonprofit that helps survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking find their own inner strength by working on their physical strength doing things like mountaineering expeditions.
The film, based on Vasquez-Lavado's upcoming memoir of the same name, is being written and directed by Elgin James (Little Birds, Mayan's M.C.) and will be produced by Oscar winner Donna Gigliotti (Shakespeare in Love, Silver Linings Playbook, Hidden Figures) for Tempesta Films. Scott Budnick's One Community (Just Mercy) will co-produce.
"Silvia is a force of nature," Gigliotti said, "Scott and I are so excited to work with Elgin and Selena to tell this story of resilience, courage, adventure and humanity." Budnick added that the pair are "thrilled to get to work to bring Silvia's incredible and inspiring story to life on screen." Gomez is not publicly known to be queer, but said she didn't mind when people questioned her sexuality and her friendship with Cara Delevingne. At the time (in 2014) she went on to say she had questioned her sexuality previously and that "everybody does no matter who they are."
We love a woman mountain climber, and we love an inspirational story about finding your strength, so we can't wait to see this film.
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Mey Rude
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.