No matter what kind of upbringing they endured, people from diverse backgrounds can truly connect when their society is targeted by violent government warfare. That’s certainly the case for the three former child soldiers – a trans market vendor, a father secretly clinging to communist ideology and an indigenous child soldier who was forced to leave her family in the Amazon – who are featured in the new documentary, ‘Strangers to Peace.’

The film follows the three as they face danger while they attempt to rebuild their lives. They’re struggling to assimilate back into civilian life after leaving the FARC guerrilla army and the bloody Colombian conflict in a homeland that now sees them as terrorists. Their stories are told through the lens of filmmaker Laura Àngel, who experienced the FARC firsthand while growing up in Colombia.

‘Strangers to Peace’ is now playing on VOD, courtesy of Freestyle Digital Media. In honor of the feature’s digital release, Film Factual is premiering an exclusive clip from the project, which is titled ‘Dayana Learning Her Friend is a Victim of the Conflict.’

The clip follows Dayana, the market vendor who’s navigating her new identity as a trans woman, as she meets her friend in a restaurant. Dayana shares that her family was poor when she was a child. She lived with her seven siblings, who are all from different fathers, in a cardboard hut on the outskirts of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá.

Dayana’s friend empathizes with her difficult childhood, as she was displaced from her hometown, where she would have liked to been raised. But she and her family were displaced because of the violence that overtook the area, including bombs and gunfire.

In ‘Strangers to Peace,’ the three former child soldiers face retribution, anxiety and danger as they attempt to rebuild their lives after leaving the FARC guerrilla army and the bloody Colombian conflict. Besides Dayana, the documentary also intimately captures the personal stories of Ricardo, the young father secretly clinging to his communist ideology; and Alexandra, the indigenous child soldier, who was forced to leave her family behind in the Amazon.

The movie was directed by Angel and Noah DeBonis, who also wrote the feature with Matthew Cohn, Ricardo Acosta and Colleen O’Brien. Angel, DeBonis and O’Brien also served as producers on the film.

For more information on ‘Strangers to Peace,’ visit its official website.

Fun Film Fact: ‘Strangers to Peace’ was shot on location in Bogotá and Vaupes, Colombia.