Costa Rica Film Festival spotlights Afro-Caribbean cinema, women
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- Costa Rica Film Festival opens July 23 in San Jose with the theme 'Cinema That Unites Us,' spotlighting Afro-Caribbean voices and women directors across its program and competitive sections
- Patricia Velásquez Guzmán, the festival’s first female director, prioritizes regionalization and community-led programming, aiming to strengthen Central American and Caribbean filmmaker networks amid declining government support for culture
- Afro-Caribbean cinema gains dedicated visibility through the new Atomic Caribbean sidebar, featuring works like Gabriela A. Moses’s 'Boca Chica' and Eleonóre Coyette and Sephora Monteau’s 'Tres Hojas'
- Female filmmakers are highlighted across the festival, with a July 26 regional meeting to build anti-sexism strategies and promote collaboration, reflecting Costa Rica’s rising cohort of women directors like Valentina Maurel and Sofia Quirós
- Central American and Caribbean Feature Film Competition includes 12 titles from Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panamá, and Puerto Rico, such as Hernán Jiménez’s 'Abril' and Kim Torres’s 'Si no ardemos cómo iluminar la noche'
- Carla Simón’s 'Romería,' Bi Gan’s 'Resurrection,' and Ulrike Ottinger’s 'The Blood Countess' appear in the Borders section, alongside Lucrecia Martel’s 'Landmarks,' framing marginalized narratives across geography, identity, and form
Why it matters: With government funding for culture shrinking, the festival’s focus on regional collaboration and underrepresented voices becomes a critical platform for completing and showcasing films that address sensitive social issues—giving Central American and Caribbean filmmakers, especially women and Afro-descendants, material support and visibility otherwise lacking.
