SUGAR ISLAND
Hybrid Film / 85 min / Dominican Republic, Spain / 2023
SUGAR ISLAND
A film by Johanné Gómez
In the Dominican-Haitian community of the Batey, labor will be displaced by the introduction of cane-cutting machines. Sixteen-year-old Makenya, who is pregnant, accompanies her grandfather, a cane worker, to claim his pension and helps her mother sell bread to the workers.
Her pregnancy progresses in parallel harmony with the sugar industry’s cycle: planting, blooming, cutting, and processing the sweet crystals. As her familiar environment shifts and she is thrust into abrupt adulthood, the young girl finds guidance in Santa Marta, a metressa of Dominican Vodou.
Sugar Island trailer from TINGLADO FILM on Vimeo.
Johanné Gómez, director and screenwriter
Fernando Santos / David Baute, producers
María Abenia, co-writer
Alván Prado, director of photography
Raúl Barreras, editor
Jonay Armas, composer of the soundtrack
JOHANNÉ GÓMEZ TERRERO
Johanné Gómez Terrero is an Afro-diasporic artist who grounds her work within a Caribbean and decolonial framework. The documentary Caribbean Fantasy launched her career as a director; she has just completed Sugar Island, a project that navigates a porous boundary between reality and fiction. She is also a producer, consultant, and supports educational processes in project development labs such as MiradasAfro, FilmaAfro, Desde la Raíz, and Hilando Historias.
She graduated from the International School of Film and Television in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV), where she has returned as a department coordinator and instructor; she also holds a Master’s degree in Film Distribution from the School of Cinema and Audiovisuals of Catalonia (ESCAC). Her field of interest and study encompasses Complex Thought, Anti-Racist Activism, and Cine Cimarrón.
VENICE – GIORNATE DEGLI AUTORI, ITALY – 2024
BFI LONDON FF, UK – 2024
SAO PAULO IFF, BRAZIL – 2024
THESSALONIKI IFF, GREECE – 2024
STOCKHOLM IFF, SWEDEN – 2024
IFF MANNHEIM HEIDELBERG, GERMANY – 2024
TRES MARGENES FESTIVAL LATINO AMERICANO DE CINEMA, BRAZIL – 2024
EXGROUND FF, GERMANY – 2024
BAJO NUESTRA PIEL, BOLIVIA – 2024
WIIFT GR FESTIVAL, GREECE – 2024
HABANA IFF, CUBA – 2024
DIALAB, BRAZIL – 2024
