In the 100% Puerto Rican production "Diario, mujer y café," the cast of Angélica Vale, Marisé Álvarez, Karla Monroig and Angelique "Burbu" Burgos is joined by a protagonist that is not a person but rather the omnipresent thread running through the film's narrative: the island of Puerto Rico.
"How can I, in the writing, make Puerto Rico become a secondary character, while the main story is about something that grabs people's attention?". Roselyn Sánchez, the well-known Puerto Rican actress, screenwriter, producer and now director, said in an interview with Platea that this was the question that set her ideas flowing when she sat down to write the script.
Why Puerto Rico?
The result is a locally made production because, she admitted, "Puerto Rico has been a very important market for me (...) And I believe a lot in the local technical crew, and I believe a lot in local talent." She also thought: "If I'm going to shoot something for the first time as a director, I'll do it on the Island because I think it can be an inspiration: I'm creating jobs, I'm providing training for the industry."
She noted that the support she felt from her team during the 19 days of filming between July and August 2024 was unmatched: "When I'm working on a set in Puerto Rico with the crew, the vast majority of them, I feel, want to see me succeed, they want things to go well for me, they want to see me win, they want to complement me, they want to lift me up. So that comfort I feel, that embrace I feel when I'm working as a creative in my country, maybe I can find it in other places, but it won't be the same."
Transatlantic inspiration
Surprisingly, the inspiration for capturing the impressive landscapes of Dorado, Río Grande and San Juan came from a film shot in Singapore. After watching the mountains that appear in the film Crazy Rich Asians, Sánchez discovered another intention for her movie.
"When I started writing Diario (...) the intention was for people outside Puerto Rico who see Diario to go through the same thing I went through when I saw Crazy Rich Asians, when I said, 'I have to go to Singapore.' I want people from outside, from anywhere in the world, who have the chance to see Diario, to tell their family, or for a wife to tell her husband: 'you have to take me to Puerto Rico,'" she said.
The future of Puerto Rican cinema
According to the press release issued by the film's production team, Diario, mujer y café injected $5 million into the local economy and generated 3,600 jobs. It held the No. 1 spot at the box office for three consecutive weeks from its premiere on Aug. 14.
The film builds a portal of artistic quality through the story of four lifelong friends, Vale, Álvarez, Monroig and Burgos, whose destinies intertwine through laughter and tears, capturing on screen an everyday life that feels as familiar as it does sublime.
"Puerto Rico has a great thirst, a great thirst to keep creating and growing the industry."
– Roselyn Sánchez, director of Diario, mujer y café
The production was a bank of opportunities for local talent. "The talent is there, the desire is there, but the training is very limited," she said when speaking about the challenges the industry faces on the Island.
Still, she stressed that "it's important for people in Puerto Rico, these young women (...) who are the future, who have the drive to make films or make art, or to be in this industry that is very, very, very tough, to know that it is really hard, but that it can be done, that they should bet on Puerto Rican cinema and television."
The goal is clear: "To be able to capture and achieve again the ability to produce in Puerto Rico with quality, cost-effectively, with distribution abroad, that is the goal, that is the goal," she said.
Different generations walk into the theater together: groups of friends and even neighbors. Diario, mujer y café did not only sell tickets at the box office; it has also fostered sisterhood, and that, the director said, is the greatest reward. "We managed to give these women this moment of closeness, of joy, in that little moment — for me, that is everything", she concluded.
"Diario, mujer y café" is still showing at Caribbean Cinemas.
Roselyn Sánchez's favorites
Like the Tikis in the film, the actress from Naguabo has traveled the whole island to taste and experience it. Here are her favorite spots:
Where to eat
Things to do
Rio Mar
Icacos
Old San Juan
Hacienda Los Pablo
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
