Discoveries from Puerto Rico World Cinema

A young woman tells us what it's like to lose your sanity.

A co-dependent lover breaks free from her binds.

First short film from Sergio Torres Negrón

A man who believes himself to be a great white shark haunts a woman with a troubled home life.

A CROSSING (1698/2003) tells a story woven from speculative visioning & historical accounts–spanning from present day to 1698–of Scotland’s attempt to colonise the Caribbean Gulf of Darién, and Crabb Island (the colonial British name for Bieke / Vieques / La Isla Nena, part of the archipelago of present day Puerto Rico). The textual narrative is combined with images, sounds and storylines bearing witness to more recent narratives from Vieques as well as from the northwest coast of Scotland on and near Cape Wrath, where military occupations, and local resistance implicate these distinct geographies. This film is part of a larger body of work that addresses entangled histories of bodies, land and resistance, and seeks to engage griefwork attuned to climate and place.

A teenager who dreams of being a dancer is forced to confront her own desires with real life.

Three college students meet by chance in the drama department of the UPR and, as they share situations from their lives, they discover that one of the subjects disturbs one of the friends.

"And Still the Seed" is a short film shot in Puerto Rico across three different ecosystems. It narrates the story of various trees and highlights aspects of the island's deforestation. The film also features a contemporary woman working diligently to preserve and care for the seeds of endangered species. This juxtaposition provides a powerful commentary on the island's environmental challenges and the ongoing efforts to combat them. The film invites viewers to witness the delicate balance between destruction and preservation in Puerto Rico's natural landscape.

A Puerto Rican middle-aged man nicknamed Curi, that works by day in an elderly center and has a side hustle in hunting wild pigs in the mountains of the city of Corozal, shares his experiences and his particular way of life.

A documentary made by the government of Puerto Rico to demonstrate how slums were converted into low-income housing

barrunto is a speculative fiction that takes place in a future of the past, in a present ruptured now. Its far-reaching network of affinities spans from Puerto Rico to Scotland, from the land to the bottom of the sea, and all the way to planet Uranus.

An elderly widowed Puerto Rican artisan suffers panic attacks caused by the idea of ​​one day being reunited with his son.

We Still Here introduces the incredible youth of Comerío, Puerto Rico navigating the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, a disaster that brought an unprecedented level of devastation to an island already in an economic and political crisis.

A documentary made by the United Methodist Church which explores the possibilities of decolonization in Puerto Rico. Interviews are done with farmers, Puerto Rican intellectuals, and different reverends from the UMC located around the island.

A boy needs to learn to become brave and take care of his family, so he can take over after his father.

Living Along the Fenceline tells the stories of 7 remarkable women who live alongside U.S. military bases. They are teachers, organizers and healers, moved by love and respect for people and the land, and hope for the next generation. The film inspires hope and action through the power of ordinary women to resist militarism and create genuine security on their own terms.

A documentary film about midwives and homebirths in Puerto Rico.

José lives with his wife and children in Santurce, Puerto Rico. As time passes José observes the mannerisms of his youngest son and perceives some homosexual tendencies. After witnessing how the community mistreats his neighbor, Junito, for being gay. Worried about his son José feels that at this moment he has to decide between staying in a conservative society or going to another country where he thinks people are liberal.

First Puerto Rican non-documentary film.

How a distraction can unchain domino-effect consequences and affect the life of a number of people.

When Karla finds out she’s a terminal patient, she decides to reconnect with Angie, a niece she hadn’t seen in ten years. Shockingly, she discovers that Angie is being treated after a suicide intent at the hospital. Karla decides to take Angie home and share with her a few days, without knowing if she can handle Angie’s panic attacks and depression, and her own mortality.

When Manolo gets the news that his girlfriend wants to sleep with him in a cabin, fear takes hold of him; because of the terror he has of his girlfriend...

This documentary presents itself as a foundational work of historical and cultural preservation, focused on disseminating the significance of one of the most important pre-Columbian legacies in the Caribbean. Through an academic yet accessible approach, the film delves into the heart of Puerto Rico's Taíno identity to reveal the transcendence of the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Center.

Created by José Trinidad, Zahira immerses us in an epic fantasy story that follows a young woman banished from her tribe, the Zun-Tara, who embarks on a journey marked by destiny, danger, and the discovery of her true purpose. In a world threatened by the dreaded Dark Age, dominated by devastating creatures and the Zayas tribe, Zahira becomes the hope of her people. Along her path, she will discover the power within her and the meaning of an ancient prophecy that names her "The Chosen Flame," destined to save her people and the entire continent.

Improvising a ritual with music, food, drinks and books, a group of friends call on the spirits of the past and confront them, unpacking the colonial legacies that inhabit an Airbnb house originally built for the last US American appointed governor of Puerto Rico, before it’s sold and that history is no longer accessible.

A documentary short film that unveils the work of Alfonso Muñoz Alma: a queer artist who, from childhood, transformed dolls and everyday finds into worlds of imagination and resistance. Forged in New York’s Puerto Rican diaspora, his work challenges heteronormative visual culture and boldly brings Puerto Rican women and the LGBTQ+ community into artistic spaces historically dominated by men.

Bamboula Eh Séa Ya is a migratory story of the evolution of bamboula in the U.S. Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico. It follows Marie Paul, traditional Afro-Caribbean dancer and practitioner of bamboula. Tracing the origins and interconnections of Bamboula and Bomba from the U. S. Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico, this film is a call to action to preserve a long but not forgotten history and is an invoker of ancestral pride & indigenous heritage.

dawn_chorusiii: the fruit they don’t have here interweaves six stories of migration as told by six different women who followed many roads and ways to arrive in the US and ultimately in California. This work is about the birds, rivers, trees, fruit, forests, apartment blocks, and the people and streets of six lives and the forces that lead one to leave the treasured and familiar behind.

Developed through a multi-year process of collaborative theatrical rehearsal and experimental filmmaking, the work emerged through the cast’s revising, re-writing, and performing of the myth of Antigone inspired by their lived and inherited experiences of migration and belonging.

Inés, an apathetic woman facing her own mortality due to a terminal illness, decides to commit one final act of resistance to prevent the sale of the housing complex where her community lives.

A student waits at a public bus stop in front of their university as the night progresses and the city remains silent. As time passes, uncertainty and frustration begin to take hold of them. In a world where waiting becomes routine, the student faces a reality that seems beyond their control.

Short film from Eduardo Rosado

After finding and reading an ancient occult book,Eliah starts experiencing strange things, where two parallel universes seem to collide with a twisted version of the other.

Short horror film directed by Enrique Rivera.

Horror film directed by Kev V.

Gabriel and Julissa enjoy their anniversary dinner, but a secret threatens to destroy their marriage.

When a young woman leaves her abusive boyfriend, she can't imagine the consequences of her decision.

Paulo is a writer who isolates himself in his house, where paranormal events and delusions become a safe haven for his creativity. Until someone comes to change this.

Puerto Rican short film about a young couple being stalked by someone.

Short film directed by Jimmy Santos and Ruben Roman Laboy.

Horror film directed by Franco Gonzalez.

A documentary about the struggles of a community in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico that has suffered more than 20 years without running water.

A short horror film

The film tells the story of four community leaders whose creativity and solidarity counteract the daunting reality of a Puerto Rico mired in a climate and colonial crisis.

Not all stars are golden. AERC and JD are searching for one.

“Metamorfosis-RIP” is a short film about Luz (Diomarys Garcia Cardona), who’s powers are awakened after her family is attacked. Will she be able to control her powers and defend her family?

The voices of artist, poet, and archaeologist Estebán Valdés and Lares-born, self-identified indigenous countrywoman Pluma Bárbara carry us through the interior landscapes of Puerto Rico, sharing oral histories, ancestral knowledge, memories, and thoughts about how we create consciousness around our cultural identity. The film brings to the forefront histories about women who are bearers of great knowledge, innovation, and creation, along with moments of darkness that visually represent our gaps in knowledge due to racially and politically motivated erasure.

Experimental short film about the housing crisis in super 8 format.

Brothels are rarely seen as safe or dignifying. Yet, in a red light district of Colombia, a country torn by decades of war, there's a tiny brothel named "Tabaco y Ron," which acts as a shelter and shield for trans sex workers that work there. Through a choral portrait of the trans community that inhabits the brothel, this documentary constructs an intimate vignette of this remarkable space. Located in Santafé, Bogotá, the brothel operates in a zone that concentrates all the miseries of a bloodstained region but is also an oasis for all people desperately fleeing war.

A look at the prevailing myth of the apparition of St. James in the town of Loíza, Puerto Rico and a reminder of the character, vitality and role Loíza women have as pillars of the community.

In times of climate change and the dramatic challenges it poses, The Absent House delivers a much-needed, hopeful and proactive message that we can live sustainably while preserving the planet for future generations.

Gregorio Guerra migrated from Puerto Rico to New York in 1964. More than 40 years later, we catch a glimpse of his current life in Queens and his coping with a bad health diagnosis.

giroscopio is a short experimental film by two artists, one in Pennsylvania and one in Puerto Rico, each in pandemic lockdown, each disoriented. Objects seem to control them; their bodies are unbalanced, unwieldy, comical. The horizon spins; the ground falls away; and yet a strange wonder reigns.

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and not every life was taken into account.

In 1955, Paramount News, “the eyes and ears of the world”, projected in movie theaters around the United States images of a plane landing in Puerto Rico carrying 2 tons of snow and a family from New Hampshire, and of the thousands of young people that received them in a baseball field. These 40 seconds of film are possibly the only surviving audiovisual document of an event that persists as a foggy memory in the conscience of most Puerto Ricans. Rain with Snow is a double projection that tries to visualize the ideological production processes behind these images, zooming in, stretching out and manipulating the last cinematic vestige of this moment. Through editing, intentions are subverted and new meanings are uncovered which were repressed in the construction process that trivialized this event to turn it into easily digestible information.

Grietas de Oro is a continuation of Tazas, and the music video picks up right where Tazas ended. It’s about accepting that rupture and its subsequent repair are part of our history.

The concept behind Tazas arose when we considered that people are, in many ways, like vases. We hide what we truly feel and this song is about breaking that facade. Spilling out everything we hide inside.