TRES BALAS
A Film by Génesis Valenzuela
After nearly two years of being undocumented, filmmaker Génesis Valenzuela embarks on a film investigating the case of her compatriot Lucrecia Pérez, a Dominican immigrant murdered by four neo-Nazis in Madrid in 1992. It was the first case to be classified by Spanish judicial authorities as racist and xenophobic. During her investigation, Génesis discovers that, in that same year, Spain proudly celebrated the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival on the island he named La Española—the very same land from which both she and, years earlier, Lucrecia had emigrated.
The director seeks to deepen her understanding of a reality that transcends the particular case of Lucrecia’s murder and is inscribed within a larger history of centuries of imperialism and colonial structures. As the investigation progresses, the present and the past become intertwined, the personal and the collective come together as one, and fiction emerges as a mechanism to help fill the vast gaps in the Afro-descendant memory of the Caribbean.
Génesis Valenzuela – Director and Screenwriter
Producers: Wendy Espinal, David Baute, Luis Miñarro
Cinematography: Daniela Cajías
Editing: Ana Pfaff
Music and Direct Sound: Sara Sánchez
GÉNESIS VALENZUELA
After migrating to Spain, where she completed a Master’s in Experimental Film Creation at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Génesis Valenzuela began working on multidisciplinary projects addressing themes such as displacement, discrimination based on gender, race, and class, and the colonization of the Antilles.
Her films have been featured in various film festivals, including the Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, the Doc Buenos Aires International Film Festival, the Quito International Film Festival, and the Málaga Film Festival, among others.
In 2018, she won first place in the Screenwriting Competition of the Dominican Republic’s National Film Fund (FONPROCINE). Additionally, her projects have been selected for several workshops and artistic residencies, such as the Ibermedia Project Development Workshop, the Project Incubator at MiradasDoc, the Artistic Residencies Center at Matadero, the RAW Film Residency by DocLisboa, and Márgenes, among others.
Awards and Residencies
Development Award – Márgenes Festival and La Casa Encendida (Madrid)
Cine Por Hacer Award – MECAS LPAFF 2023
RAW Residency / ARCHÉ Lab / Márgenes WORK Lab – Lisbon, Gijón, Madrid (2022)
Open Doors – Locarno International Film Festival
Su Mirada – Panama International Film Festival (IFF)
Dirdira Lab – Basque Country