Tercera Edición de “CineConexión”, el Foro de Co-Producción en línea Europa-Caribe
CineConexión es una iniciativa del espacio industria (Foro Industria) del Festival de Cine Europeo de Puerto Rico (FCEPR), evento anual organizado por la Alliance Française de Puerto Rico. Este foro tiene como objetivo estimular las relaciones cinematográficas entre el sector cinematográfico de Europa, Puerto Rico y el Caribe.
A continuación se presentan los 7 proyectos de películas puertorriqueñas en desarrollo que han sido seleccionados para participar en esta segunda edición de CineConexión, que se celebrará entre las 10:00AM y 12:00PM (AST) del 10 de noviembre de 2025. Cada proyecto tendrá 15 minutos para hacer su “pitch” ante el panel de productores y profesionales del cine invitados.
El FCEPR invita a productores, distribuidores y profesionales del cine europe e internacional, interesados en descubrir estos proyectos únicos, que brindan una ventana a las historias y dinamismo del cine puertorriqueño y del Caribe.
Todos los profesionales del cine interesados en asistir a los pitching virtuales y en conectar con estos proyectos tienen que registrarse de forma gratuita al link siguiente :
PROYECTOS SELECCIONADOS
El FCEPR se enorgullece de presentar tanto a productores y profesionales del cine europeo, como a los seguidores del FCEPR, los siguientes siete proyectos cinematográficos puertorriqueños en fase de desarrollo.
Cada una de estas propuestas, seleccionadas en la convocatoria abierta de CineConexión en septiembre de 2025, refleja la diversidad y la originalidad de las voces caribeñas y puertorriqueñas.
NOTA: La información que aquí se publica de los proyectos seleccionados se presenta sólo en lengua inglesa. En esta actividad, el inglés será el idioma usado para la comunicación con los profesionales internacionales, como en los pitchings y encuentros online programados.
CAFÉ ESPERANZA
de Jorge Reyes Reyes
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Sofía stumbles into Café Esperanza on a rainy night. At dawn, Alma feeds her and quietly reveals the café’s purpose: a coded ritual—chalk marks, a bell, a back door—that means protection when institutions fail. That same day, a mother orders the “Special,” code for help. The team flips from shelter to action: gather minimal intel, move discreetly, and attempt a contained rescue at a mountain safe house. The town’s unspoken power pushes back—cars idling with lights off, uniforms looking away, forms that never get signed. As Sofía learns the rhythm and stakes of the ritual, trust is tested and the café absorbs hits but refuses to close. In a final, focused operation, the women free the girls and force accountability. Afterward, the community rebuilds a stronger Café Esperanza, proving that where hope begins, fear loses ground.
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Género: Neo Western
Duración: 90 min
Nacionalidad(es): Puerto Rico
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Jorge N. Reyes Reyes (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is a filmmaker and cinema professional with 20+ years in the industry. He has worked across short-form and independent projects and spent many years as a film projectionist in local theaters, gaining a practical understanding of audiences and exhibition. He currently serves on the board of the Puerto Rico Film Festival, helping open distribution pathways for Puerto Rican films in local and international markets. Influences include Ridley Scott, Antoine Fuqua, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, and Benicio del Toro. Café Esperanza will be his first feature project.
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Stephanie M. Blondet Baco
A GUIDE TO MOURN
de Gabriel Irizarry
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David is an isolated young man who once had everything but lost it all when his wife Lisa died battling cancer. Isolating himself from the rest of the world, he now lives in a small apartment and works as a school janitor. One year after Lisa’s passing though, David finds himself with a gift she left him, an audiobook. Lost in the words she left him, he now spends his days reminiscing about what once was his life. Until fate decides to connect him with Rebecca, a young local bar owner and his perfect counterpart. Together they find in each other their guide to mourn.
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Género: Drama
Duración: 100min
Nacionalidad(es): Puerto Rico
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Gabriel Irizarry is a Puerto Rican writer, director, editor, and producer. Born and raised in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, he discovered his love for the arts at an early age. Choosing film as his preferred medium, he embarked with his best friend and actor Emilio Gerena to create an independent production company: Red Car Pictures. Together, they have produced a series of successful projects, including plays, short films, documentaries, music videos, and more.
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Gabriel Irizarry & Emilio Gerena
EL HOMBRE DE LA CASA
de Benjamin Lopez
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Ismael (38), a successful dance instructor specializing in styles from the Afro-Caribbean community in which he was raised, receives terrible news: his father Roberto (71) is diagnosed with prostate cancer. Ismael’s sister Caridad (44) who still lives on the island, is unable to care for their father because her hands are full assisting their MOM (69) who is estranged from Roberto due to his years of womanizing and abuse. Their parents’ relationship is not the only complicated one; Ismael and his father are also deeply estranged due to Roberto’s lifelong inability to come to terms with his son’s sexual identity. The spotlight is now on Ismael to go home and provide emotional support to a man who for years has not been able to even look him in the eye and treat him like a human.
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Género: Drama
Duración: 100 minutes
Nationaly(ies): Puerto Rico
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Benjamin Lopez is an award-winning director from Puerto Rico with 9 feature films under his credits. His directorial debut was an adventure film titled Tainos in 2005, then he made the creative transition to comedy creating the highly successful comedy franchise Mi Verano con Amanda. Later on, he joined forces with Guacamaya Films in Honduras creating ¿Quién Paga la Cuenta? the highest-grossing film in that country. He has now two upcoming films to be released in 2022, the romantic comedy Amor en 266 Millas and the coming of age comedy Mixtape, a finalist in Cinequest FF 2022, and Dances with Films to be screened in June 2022. He is currently developing a few projects among them is “El Hombre de la Casa” an Afro-Caribbean story to be filmed in Puerto Rico and Afloat, a suspenseful female driven thriller inspired in a true crime story.
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Yamara Rodriguez
EL VALLE ESCONDIDO
de Michelle Malley Campos
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A family of Taíno descent prepares an important meal. Inarú(40s) slaughters a pig for roasting alongside her husband Utuán(50s), a devout christian. Tanamá(16), a vegan goth brat, talks to the gods and collects seeds with psychedelic properties. The occasion: Grandmother has decided to die, and estranged rich uncle Diego(40s) is visiting from overseas with his European wife Alba(40s) and their non-bilingual daughter Emily(12). Diego seems devastated by his mother’s decision, but nothing is quite as it seems, and sinister intentions bubble to the surface. Tanamá discovers Diego has a plot to claim the land title and deprive Inarú from her inheritance. The family gathering begins to unravel when the family dog shows up dead and Grandma is missing, along with the land title. A blood fest ensues when Diego goes on a rampage to find the title. Who will be the last one standing to inherit the land?
"Salud de un pueblo" is an observational documentary that follows patients seeking medical care as well as doctors who continue their practice in medicine as the foundation for the economic model holding the healthcare system in Puerto Rico erodes.
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Género: Horror, Thriller
Duracion: 90 min
Nationality(ies): Puerto Rico
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Michelle Malley Campos : Graduate of NYU Tisch. Award-winning writer-director, born/raised/currently residing in Santurce, Puerto Rico, with over a dozen short films and music videos; with almost 20 years of experience in the film industry. After a long career as assistant director (DGA) and commercials director, she is founder and president of Vientos PR LLC. Currently with a feature film “Extranjera” in the post-production stage and in development of two feature-length fiction projects. In addition to founding and managing for more than a decade the “Cinema Paradiso” project based in the La Goyco cultural center.
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Camila Reus
IN THAT TIME, SHE WAS TOÑITA
de Edwards Andrés Martínez & Alejandro D. Orengo Colón
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On the day of March 4, 1970 what was meant to be a peaceful protest regarding the Vietnam War along with Educational reform morphs into a violent altercation between students and state police. 20 year old university student Toñita Martinez is going about her day normally, doing her best to keep up with school work, daily life and anxieties about the future, distant by all means of the violence surrounding her alma mater on this fateful day. Even so, Toñita sadly becomes a casualty between an altercation amid the brutal police sweeping of the area later that day. This film is a careful recollection of that day following the lives of various individuals present, leading to the singular timeline that sets in motion Toñita’s tragic and unjust fate. Based on a true story.
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Género: Historical Drama
Duración: 120min
Nationality(ies): Puerto Rico
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Edwards A Martínez & Alejandro D Orengo Colon are Puertorican filmmakers and founders of Producciones Tabaquero LLC. They have produced and co-produced multiple award winning films presented nationally and internationally since they began working together in 2013.
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Surhail K. Navarro
AGÜEYNABÁ'S LIBRARY : DECOLONIZING CARIBBEAN ARCHEOLOGY
de Juliana Maïté
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Omar Iloy, a modern Taino poet and farmer from Borikén (Puerto Rico), embarks on a journey with archaeologist Dr. Reniel Rodriguez to uncover Agueybana’s Library, also known as Father Nazario’s Rocks. This collection of over 800 carved rocks, many stolen or dismissed as fakes, has puzzled scientists for years. Carbon dating places them between 900 BC and 900 AD, and they feature a previously unknown written language. Even more enigmatic, the humanoid stones have turban-like head pieces, which were not worn by the Taino or Arawak people. Omar and Dr. Rodriguez aim to find scientific proof of the origin of these rocks and how they might change Caribbean history as we know it. Thorough Omar’s poetry and Dr. Rodriguez studies, this documentary reclaims our own narrative and reveals the advanced nature of Taino culture, long denied by colonizers.
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Género: Documentary
Duracion: 90 minutes
Nationality(ies): Puerto Rico
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Juliana Maité, Puerto Rican film director, is known for her diverse films: from intimate dramas and light comedies to fantasy and horror films. Her feature film “Without Prescription” was awarded the Audience Award in SXSW 2022, Global Section. The film also received the Jury award for Best Ensemble Performance in the 48th Huelva Iberoamerican Film Festival, Spain. Juliana’s first feature film "A Punto de Llegar", was acquired by Somos TV in 2019. Both are available in Amazon Prime Video.
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Kenia Salas Laborde
CREPÚSCULO
de Nemesio Gil Pineda
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During an ominous crepuscule now lasting hours at a time, Father Armand, a blind and enigmatic French priest, arrives to a small parish in a picturesque town of Puerto Rico to substitute another priest who disappeared under puzzling circumstances and, most importantly, to search for a relic hidden in the island during colonial times and said to grant eternal life. Deborah, a member of the parish and who may hold the secret to the relic, is immediately captivated by the mysterious and handsome French priest. However, after his arrival, vampiric crimes ensue while Deborah’s younger son creates an unexpected filial bond with the priest. Now the small town’s anti-religion police agent (Deborah’s ex-husband) starts investigating. He suspects Father Armand, as the number of victims and supernatural manifestations increase. But the priest can’t possibly be a suspect! He is blind after all. Or…is he?
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Género: Supernatural, Horror Drama
Duracion: 90 min
Nationality(ies): Puerto Rican
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Raised in Puerto Rico by Dominican immigrants, Nemesio Gil completed a B.F.A. in film production at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Afterwards, he set off for graduate studies researching film, literature, and visual culture of Europe and the Caribbean, respectively. He taught academic writing and cinema at the UPR Rio Piedras Campus, and Bard Early College, New Orleans. His passion for film and television was evident in Telemundo, WIPR Channel 6, and in local films as writer, director, production coordinator and acting coach for Kravaz Productions and Redemption Films.
He has also directed numerous theater plays for Lucky/Lanza Productions, Inc. since 2006. In addition, love for European languages and cultures has made of him a polyglot (English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese.) But most importantly, sharing his knowledge in community acting workshops forms an integral part of his life as an audiovisual artist.
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Luis Freddie Vázquez