SHORTS PROGRAM – PUERTO RICAN SHORTS:
“YO SOY DE P FKN R”

Cadencia

Directed by Paulís Cofresí

Narrative, 15 mins, Puerto Rico, 2026

For nine-year-old Lola, evenings are shaped by her single mother’s orchestra rehearsals. On the night of Lola’s birthday, Aileen begins her first day as concertmaster, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the institution’s history. As rehearsals unfold, Lola wanders familiar backstage corridors and empty halls, finding ways to occupy herself. When intermission arrives, Lola hopes the night might finally turn toward her, only to realize her mother’s attention remains elsewhere.

 

Amanece

Directed by Julián Fernández Garnik

Narrative, 13 mins, Puerto Rico, 2025

Iker, a young boy in Puerto Rico during the summer of 1999, lives through a series of days that completely uproot his life and mark the end of his innocent childhood. After a child is kidnapped from his neighborhood park, Iker’s mother asks him to not leave their street anytime he plays outside. He agrees to do so, but on the last day of summer, he succumbs to his friend’s pressure to play hide and seek in an abandoned school in the outskirts of the neighborhood. After being frightened by what he finds in the school, Iker accidentally gets lost in a part of town unknown to him and experiences a traumatic event when he trusts in the kindness of strangers. Ultimately, he is forced to grow up and do whatever he can to find his way back home again.

Trailer
 

Mareas a la Deriva

Directed by Camila Rodríguez López

Narrative, 21 mins, Puerto Rico, 2026

PUERTO RICO IS A PARADISE PUERTO RICANS DON'T GET TO ENJOY.

Maite, a young graffiti writer in Puerto Rico, faces a life-altering choice: leave the island for a promising career opportunity abroad or stay and navigate the challenges of a nation in crisis. During her mother’s birthday weekend, with her sister visiting from New York, Maite sees two possible futures reflected in them – one rooted in resilience and staying, the other shaped by the opportunities of leaving. Grappling with these paths, she is forced to reckon with a paradise built for tourists and outsiders to enjoy but for locals to labor in and endure, shaped by systemic neglect, colonialism, and a broken power grid that keeps its bliss just out of reach for its own people.

Trailer

 

Recao

Directed by Dayra Ferrera

Narrative, 15 mins, Puerto Rico, 2026

Anna grows up learning how to prepare sofrito alongside her grandfather Exio in their home in Villa Palmeras, Puerto Rico. Years later, Anna faces the double loss of her grandfather and her home after the forced displacement of the community. The granddaughter says goodbye to the house she and her grandfather built over many years, carrying with her the memory and tradition that bound them together.

Trailer

 

Mataron a Pedro

Directed by Kristian Mercado

Narrative, 15 mins, Puerto Rico, 2026

A Harvard-educated Afro Puerto Rican lawyer returns home in the 1930s and ignites a confrontation with colonial power, risking everything, including his freedom, his family, and his life, to stand with striking workers in a fight that shaped Puerto Rico’s future.

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Q&A with filmmakers in attendance

 

This screening was made possible by a grant from Cambridge Arts.