NL Film

Nicaragua, today. Eleven-year-old María lives with her mother Lilibeth on the edge of an immense rubbish dump. Their future depends on selling a litter of purebred puppies to a local gang member. When the deal falls through, Lilibeth has to move to the outskirts of the city and leave María to work at a recycling factory. The days go by with no sign of her mother's return. María feels abandoned, confused and angry. One night she meets Tadeo, a kind and romantic boy determined to help her find her mother.

Joseph Nicolas Ventimiglia is a 15-year-old boy who rarely speaks. Internally, he experiences a whirlwind of emotions and sensations, often feeling confused and deeply sad. He prefers solitude over the company of others, despite feeling lonely. The deaths of his mother and his best friend have profoundly affected him, leading to a drastic change in behavior, becoming increasingly surly and prone to violent outbursts.

This experimental animated documentary interrogates the colonial legacies embedded in archives through the lens of Black land stewards. Combining live-action footage, archival material, and animation, Oryza: Healing Ground reimagines archives as dynamic, living systems. A custom-built Artificial Intelligence system centered on Black histories, creates evolving digital motifs on Afrocentric perspectives, challenging the exclusion of Black voices from AI and algorithmic technologies.