Short Films

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Young Masters

SUGAR ISLAND
SUGAR ISLAND

• Director: Johanné Gómez Terrero
• DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, SPAIN / 2024 / DCP / Colour / 91’ / Spanish; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Johanné Gómez Terrero
• Director of Photography: Alván Prado
• Editing: Raúl Barrera
• Music: Jonay Armas, Gagá de la 30
• Cast: Yelidá Díaz, Ruth Emeterio, Juan María Almonte, Génesis Piñeyro, Diógenes Medina
• Producer: Fernando Santos Díaz
• Production Co.: Guasábara Cine
• World Sales: Patra Spanou Film

2024 Venice Edipo Re Inclusion and Sustainability Award – Giornate degli Autori
2024 Thessaloniki WIFT GR Best Woman’s Contribution
2024 La Habana Best Artistic Contribution

Makenya leaves behind fun and dancing with her friends in search for work. She is a Dominican-Haitian teenager who lives in the Batey, a community surrounded by sugarcane fields. An unwanted pregnancy triggers her journey into adulthood. A serpent appears in her path, and she is guided towards recognizing her earthly power and her awareness in the realm of the impossible. Makenya reunites with her friends in a parallel and Afro-futuristic dimension. The touching debut of Johanné Gómez Terrero is a strong drama that premiered at the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Festival. Combining tradition, sugar, colonialism, slavery, ancestral spirituality, history, the past and the present, Makenya’s story is written to support the cause of women, sugar cane workers, and Haitian immigrants.

* In accordance with Article 7 of the Law No. 5224 amended on 18.01.2019, cinema films that have not been reviewed and classified can only be screened in festivals, special screenings and similar cultural and artistic events with an 18+ age restriction.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.