Ellas: Mujeres en la música

“El Apagón: Aquí Vive Gente” is a documentary directed by Bad Bunny and Blanca Graulau. This 23-minute film explores the socio-economic challenges in Puerto Rico, focusing on the effects of power outages and gentrification driven by the real estate and energy sectors. Through visuals and personal stories, the documentary highlights the experiences of Puerto Rican communities facing these issues.

A reflection Puerto Rican’s initial reaction to the aftermath of hurricane Maria captured through interviews filmed two months into the chaos and footage gathered from people’s phones, cameras, and any form of recording.

Two tons of snow—flown from New Hampshire to Puerto Rico in 1952 in order to “gift” Puerto Ricans a “white Christmas”—become a metaphor for the colonialist paternalism of America’s relationship to Puerto Rico.

A night in the life of a cab driver in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

After a run-in with local thugs, aspiring Harlem rapper Rob flees to a place and father he never knew, and finds his salvation in Reggaeton, a spicy blend of hip-hop, reggae and Latin beats. Puerto Rico, the spiritual home of Reggaeton, inspires Rob and his step-brother Javi to pursue their dream of becoming Reggaeton stars. Together with a dancer named C.C., they learn what it means to stay true to themselves and each other, while overcoming obstacles in love, greed and pride, all culminating in an explosive performance at New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Explore the 500-year history of the city of San Juan, from the move from Caparra to the different invasions during these centuries. It also looks at how different situations and people were key to what is now the capital of Puerto Rico. This documentary presents, through the recreation of key situations, archival material, and accounts of historians and researchers, decisive moments that influenced what is now the capital.

Puerto Rico, the last relic of colonization in the western hemisphere, has been a dependent territory of the USA since 1917. Los Macheteros and one of its leaders Juan Segarra have been fighting for its full independence for many decades.

Legendary singer Daniel Santos lives in Ocala, Florida, and prepares his biography with Secre, a young journalist. The memory of past glories makes him embark on one more adventure: a tour of South American countries where he was known as “El Jefe” (The Chief) and where he expects to be yet again acclaimed and applauded.

PsiQuis: Un Giro Decolonial is a documentary that presents and discusses the psychological impact that colonialism has had on the Puerto Rican people. The director analyzes the traumas generated in Puerto Rican society by that colonial experience.

Hurricane María abated, the news crews packed up and left Puerto Rico, and the interest of the international community turned elsewhere. What happened next?

How fair is it for the government to control its citizens? Four Puerto Ricans confront their past when they open their “files”, the records obtained of the illegal surveillance and persecution that the Puerto Rican government held against citizens and organizations that disagreed with the establishment. Through their daily life, they will tell us their stories, experiences and intimate feelings of the persecution they suffered. Taking their past as an example, we will confront the present.

A poetic journey about the life and work of Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos.

A look at Puerto Rico and its cinema through films, documentaries, and commercials from the early twentieth century to the emerging cinema of today. Visual and narrative strategies portray fragments of Puerto Rico's general history and, in turn, answers the questions of who, when, and for whom have ​​films been made in Puerto Rico and the resources that are available to do it.

Strong Puerto Rican women forced to flee the island after Hurricane Maria have bonded like family in a FEMA hotel in the Bronx. They seek stability in their new life as forces try to pull them apart.

Immigrant residents of a “shift-bed” apartment in the heart of New York City’s Chinatown share their stories of personal and political upheaval. As the bed transforms into a stage, the film reveals the collective history of the Chinese in the United States through conversations, autobiographical monologues, and theatrical movement pieces. Shot in the kitchens, bedrooms, wedding halls, cafés, and mahjong parlors of Chinatown, this provocative hybrid documentary addresses issues of privacy, intimacy, and urban life.

Guillermo Gómez Álvarez explores the identity politics of Puerto Rico via archival footage from various sources that clash with nine original songs from local independent musicians and a thematic analysis from a psychoanalyst and a historian. From the juxtaposition the absurd becomes coherent and the coherent becomes absurd as Puerto Rican identity is defined and rejected almost simultaneously.

The Hurricane Maria represented a historic event for the island of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican spirit at the helm of this natural disaster was shattered beyond repair. And from the rumble the Puerto Rican spirit will be reborn again. Omar Iloy makes a desperate call to the wounded spirit of the island, a call for hope and help.

Rosina is frustrated by her engagement to millionaire John Johnson III, a fussy, domineering, control freak. The night before her wedding, she goes out dancing with her maid María, María's husband Tomás, and their friend Gordillo. When Rosina learns Gordillo is a sailor on the yacht owned by Mexican film star José María Beltrán, she decides to stow away and sail to Mexico to be with her grandmother.

Carmen accompanies a group of women who must travel from the island of Vieques to San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, in order to perform breast biopsies. The long journey is by water and road. Amid many fears and vicissitudes, Carmen confirms once again the need for appropriate medical services for both women and for the rest of the Vieques population.

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, hundreds of artists gathered to pay honor to the work of Puerto Rican artist Myrna Báez. La otra intención (The Other Intention) is an observational documentary that travels through the work of Myrna while visiting artists, such as Petra Bravo, Deborah Hunt, Yiyo Tirado, Gustavo Castrodad, the theater group Y no había luz, among others, to accompany them in their creative process of re-interpretation.