Writer & Director

2024

Winner of Best Short Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Performance at the Puerto Rico Queer Film Fest, and one of three winners of the Johnnie Walker Keep Walking Films initiative.

Moral guilt and emotional complexity unfold in Maco’s journey when, following a sexual encounter with his best friend and the discovery of his grandmother’s death, he sets out with his friends for her funeral. When a tire bursts in the middle of nowhere, the unexpected detour forces him to confront the emotional turmoil he has been carrying. A story about guilt, friendship, desire, and the boundaries of masculine complexity.

Mariana’s approach was to translate the story’s psychological and emotional textures into a visual language rooted in the island’s social and cultural reality, reflecting her commitment to intimate storytelling and to characters whose inner worlds are shaped by the places they inhabit.

The film was produced by Monovisión and Lonelypark and shot on location in San Juan and Río Grande, Puerto Rico.