Chulo

As someone who grew up in the diaspora, my relationship with Puerto Rico has always been shaped by distance. When my abuelo passed away in 2022, that distance suddenly felt heavier, and I began to question what it meant to belong somewhere you didn’t grow up, but felt deeply connected to. Those back-and-forth emotions ultimately became the impulse behind Chulo.

In Puerto Rico, the word "chulo" can be used to describe a person, a moment, or a feeling in the warmest and most appealingly of ways. That spirit guided the film’s approach: an intimate portrait of queer love unfolding across Puerto Rico’s landscapes and emotional terrain. Shot entirely on the island with a local crew and Latine lead cast, the film travels through lush rainforests, striking beaches, and the historic streets of Viejo San Juan, while exploring connection, heritage, and the fragile beauty of loving deeply, even when time or circumstance makes that love fleeting.

Authenticity was essential to the project. I performed alongside my own abuela in her lifelong home, weaving lived experience directly into the fabric of the film. The result is both a romance and a meditation on diaspora, belonging, and the emotional geography that shapes who we are.