Cine Carmelita

“Don’t end up alone like I did.” This plea expressed by her grandmother before passing, haunts Tatiana, a single, 40-year-old documentary filmmaker. Filled with questions about what it means to “not end up alone,” Tatiana explores her grandma Teresa’s life: an imposing woman who owned an iconic movie theater, divorced three times and challenged the Dominican social norms of her era. The filmmaker embarks on a journey through family archives, old films and hundreds of letters, constructing —or trying to deconstruct— a story about love, expectations and solitude.

Three teen ballet students — Raymundo, Angel and Victor — are the only boys in a class of twenty. In a country where dance is mostly considered an activity for women, they are determined to follow their dreams and challenge traditional gender roles. Like a waltz, music played in triple time, the three boys move through Santo Domingo while confronting, yet sometimes abiding by, the Dominican machismo culture.