UN TEATRO PARA BARBERO; UNA LECCIÓN DIFERENTE; LA CULPA DE CAÍN; IVÁN, LA VACA Y EL COMETA; NOS ATRAVIESA UN CUERPO DE AGUA; PARAÍSO

Program:

UN TEATRO PARA BARBERO
Hugo Mata Parducci, El Salvador, 2025, Documentary
SCREENPLAY Hugo Mata and Jorgelina Cerritos | CINEMATOGRAPHY Hector Martinez, William Castillo | EDITING Hugo Mata | SOUND Hector Martínez | MUSIC Oscar Luna | FEATURING Gilda Parducci, Claudia Herodier, Iván Marroquín Parducci
24 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

What does it mean to dedicate one’s life to the theater? This question drives director Hugo Mata Parducci—leading him on a quest that extends far beyond personal reflection. At the heart of the film lies the legacy of Edmundo Barbero, a Spanish actor, director, and theater educator who arrived in El Salvador in 1952 and laid the foundations for a modern, professional theater scene. As the long-time director of the *Teatro Universitario* at the University of El Salvador, he shaped generations of actors—leaving behind a void that is still felt today.

Through archival footage, personal memories, and moving accounts from those who knew him, the film paints a portrait of a man who passed on his knowledge and passion with uncompromising dedication. At the same time, *Un teatro para Barbero* offers an intimate exploration of what it means to live out an artistic calling—with all its inherent doubts, sacrifices, and quiet greatness. It is a film about the power of memory and those who "infected" an entire nation with a love for the theater.

UNA LECCIÓN DIFERENTE
Paolo Salinas and Arturo López, El Salvador, 2025, Short Film
SCREENPLAY Arturo López | CINEMATOGRAPHY Alejandro García and Rafael García | EDITING Alejandro García and Isaac Velásquez | SOUND Ángel Cortez | Featuring Paolo Salinas, Darlyn Echeverría, Josué Benítez, Gracia Saravia, Marcos Guevara, Cristian Amaya, Jonathan Obando, Adrián Salinas, Génesis Guzmán, Daniela Ortega, Edward Mancía, Alejandra Mancía, Cenia Flores, Dania Aquino
15 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

A teacher stands before his class. Outside—somewhere between the day’s news and the silence that follows—he has received tragic news. What unfolds is no ordinary lesson. The teacher sets the curriculum aside—not out of negligence, but out of a necessity that runs deeper than any exam preparation. He speaks about life, about loss, and about what remains when someone is gone. He poses questions that have no "correct" answers, inviting his students to reflect, to empathize, and to join in the questioning.

What follows is a quiet, intense moment of pause: a lesson on the art of continuing to live in the face of pain, on the bond between teacher and student, and on the power of a conversation that transcends the formal curriculum. A brief, moving film about what school could truly be—a place where, beyond the transmission of knowledge, humanity is also nurtured.


LA CULPA DE CAÍN (CAIN’S GUILT)
Arturo López Rodas, El Salvador, 2025, Short Film
SCREENPLAY, CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING: Arturo López | SOUND: José Tercero | CAST: Francisco Martínez, Luis Ángel Flamenco
13 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

For eight years, Luis has not spoken to his brother, Pepe. Eight years during which their shared past as business partners has hardened into a wall of silence. When news reaches him that Pepe has suffered a stroke, Luis hesitates—but ultimately decides to go. Perhaps this is the final opportunity to resolve the unresolved issues standing between them. Yet, the real struggle begins the moment he reaches the doorway: the religious symbols throughout his brother’s home feel like silent accusations. Every cross, every image, every candle serves as a reminder that he is not merely a visitor, but the very person who caused the pain.

What follows is not a simple conversation, but a slow, painful circling around a guilt that Luis cannot bring himself to admit. He talks around the subject, evades the truth, and searches for words that won’t cause further hurt—only to realize that forgiveness cannot be found through avoidance, but rather through the willingness to confront one’s own responsibility. An intense, chamber-drama-style piece, the film explores the scars that families carry across generations and raises the question of whether some wounds can ever truly heal.


IVÁN, LA VACA Y EL COMETA (IVÁN, THE COW, AND THE COMET)
Adriano Hunziker, Costa Rica / Switzerland, 2025, Short Film
SCREENPLAY, EDITING: Adriano Hunziker | CINEMATOGRAPHY: Indiego Ureña | SOUND: Johnnatan Arce, Fernando Esquivel | MUSIC: Luis Ruiz | CAST: Isaac Zúñiga, Fernando Guzmán
10 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

Iván is cool. Really cool. He’s got that laid-back look, the right attitude, and a plan for the evening: a beach party—music, people, good vibes. His buddy Ramiro, however, has other priorities. Ramiro is dead set on wearing his new cow costume—yes, a cow costume—and nothing is going to change his mind. The two set off, an unlikely duo on a mission: get there, party, and have a good time.

But the journey to the party holds more in store than just sand and sun. Somewhere between the bus stop and the beach promenade, something happens that wasn’t part of the plan. Something not of this world. A spaceship. Suddenly, Iván and Ramiro find themselves facing not just a party, but an actual extraterrestrial encounter—and they have to figure out what to do when the impossible lands right in front of them.

Director Adriano Hunziker, an up-and-coming Costa Rican-Swiss filmmaker and visual effects artist, blends comedy, science fiction, and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor in this short film. It’s a story about friendship, wild decisions, and the question of what to do when the universe suddenly decides to park on your doorstep. With digital effects, plenty of wit, and an affectionate eye for his quirky characters, Hunziker crafts a charming little adventure about two friends who just wanted to go to a party.


A BODY OF WATER RUNS THROUGH US
Carolina Fung Calvo, Costa Rica, 2025, short film
SCREENPLAY Carolina Fung | CINEMATOGRAPHY Victoria Santamaría | EDITING Kaled Torijano | SOUND Rosa Céspedes, Sebastián Gutiérrez | MUSIC Eduardo Tapia | CAST Mayté Ortega Floris, Teo Yuja
13 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

Ama has set out to bridge the distance. She organizes a trip to some natural pools in the area—an attempt to reconnect with her younger brother, Daniel. Ever since she left their childhood home, something has been broken between them—something that cannot be mended by words alone. She hopes that perhaps the water can achieve what years of silence could not.

Yet, the silence between the siblings is deceptive. As the water’s surface ripples and the current picks up, their emotions begin to stir as well. Old wounds rise to the surface—unspoken grievances that have festered for years. Amidst the rocks and the cool water, Ama and Daniel must confront the tensions that have long torn their family apart—and face the question of whether shared memories are stronger than the reasons that drove them apart.

In this short film, director Carolina Fung Calvo strikes a rare balance between restraint and intensity. The water becomes a silent protagonist: it simultaneously separates and connects, reflects and swallows, buoys and repels. It is a quiet, poignant film about sibling love, familial fractures, and the healing power of a place where one can finally face the other once again. The jury of the Shorts Costa Rica Festival described the work as a universe “in which the visible and the implied coexist in a fragile balance”—and in which the landscape itself becomes an active element, connecting the siblings across the divide of their estrangement.


PARAÍSO
Carolina Arias Ortiz, Costa Rica, 2025, short documentary
SCREENPLAY Carolina Arias Ortiz | CINEMATOGRAPHY Pietro Bulgarelli and Carolina Arias Ortiz | EDITING Alonso Víquez | SOUND Naruyibe Montero | MUSIC Carla Alfaro | FEATURING Digna María Espinoza Abarca, Andrea Gutiérrez Espinoza, Noelia Gómez Gutiérrez, Juan Rafael García Abarca, Lucía Castro, Paul Harmut
15 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

On the coast of Santa Cruz, in northwestern Costa Rica, lies a place whose name is no coincidence: Paraíso (Paradise). Yet the paradise promised by tourism brochures has many faces. In this short, poetic essay, women from the village share their stories—their voices speak of what has been lost, what offers resistance, and what is undergoing relentless change. Between the familiar images of sea, sand, and sky—and those we never get to see—unfolds a quiet portrait of a region in transition.

Climate change is eroding the coastline, tourist numbers are rising, and beaches are disappearing. What remains when the waters rise and concrete structures proliferate? Director Carolina Arias Ortiz—an anthropologist and filmmaker—poses this question without pathos. She explores the paradises we imagine and pursue—only to end up destroying them ourselves. Yet, the film does not conclude in lamentation. He finds solace in a realization that is as simple as it is radical: memory is the only place from which we can never be driven out. What has once been lived, remains. And sometimes, that is enough to keep going.

A film that resonates long after it ends, with a quiet precision—exploring home, loss, and the beauty of what remains.