Cine boricua: The Course of Puerto Rican Fictional Films of the Twenty-First Century

Puerto Rican film language has succeeded in connecting audiences due to the audiovisual occupying an important place among people. According to Dr. Rosana L. Díaz Zambrana’s book Cine boricua, published in 2025, data from the past year indicate that five films were shown in Puerto Rican movie theaters in the month of October. This book analyzes 107 films and touches on diverse topics under the social spectrum of the nation, identity, and resistance. The analyzed films are Puerto Rican fictional films of the twenty-first century.

The launch of the book Cine boricua held at Casa Norberto.

Reading this book has been a never-ending adventure, marked by the discovery of a broad sample of Puerto Rican fictional films. The author is meticulous in her analysis and maintains that the literature used for the development of the work recognizes the audiovisual as being part of a sociocultural history, for example, notable pieces of work such as Historia del cine puertorriqueño by Kino García. Studying cinematography reveals the ongoing debate on what Puerto Rican cinema means, or cinema made in Puerto Rico.

Steering away from the preconceived notions on how to write a book review, we arrive now at a turning point when writing about Cine boricua. This is not a conventional book, but rather a piece of work that explores in depth the traumatized social strata of a diverse and complex country comprised of nine million people, including those of the diaspora and those living on the island. The book reiterates the state of the nation and outlines the aftermaths of the natural disasters that have occurred in Puerto Rico, the effects of the pandemic, the different types of violence taking place—gender-based, of an economic nature, colonial, a disregard for mental health—migration tendencies, the energy crisis which creates uncertainty and dire social straits, the fiscal debt, the power struggles, the actions taken to reduce access to fair education, among others. Díaz Zambrana’s analysis arises from the noise created by conflicts—from the pain of the personal and collective loss of human lives and of material items—and attempts to demonstrate how film language mirrors our social reality.

This book analyzes Puerto Rican fictional films through the lens of cultural identity. In accordance with Stuart Hill’s point of view, the author argues that the content of these films is subject to developments in history, culture, and power, and takes the reader on a brief historical journey through space and time. She collects data and valuable information to make this work a powerful tool for education. Díaz Zambrana refines elements that could innovate school curricula, including those used in specialized schools in visual arts, radio, and television. Her work encourages the creation of new educational proposals in the wake of changes produced by the hypermediation of technologies, digital platforms, and social media.

The drawing expressed from the youth stages about the author Dr. Rosana Leticia Díaz Zambrana.

Undoubtedly, the digital era has propelled human communication forms forward, and digital communities are now an important space to produce movements of social change through the circulation and distribution of content and audiovisual resources. However, virtuality faces its own set of challenges relating to film circulation and distribution, given its immediacy, streaming practices, the movie business, the control of available films, and monetary incentives. These are now new discussion topics of the industry, and, in Cine boricua, they are questioned as the author analyses her sample of 107 films.

Cine boricua transcends linguistic and geographic codes, encouraging readers and viewers to both experience the feelings that arise in a country left devasted and disenchanted and consider the empowering and resilient stories told by female filmmakers. These women, through visual testimonies, capture the state of the nation. Let us embrace this magnificent book that consolidates and praises Puerto Rican fictional films of the twenty-first century through the analysis of films containing popular culture references and which show of a great deal of creativity. Writing about resisting capital market trends is an honorable attempt to recognize and explore national identities. To investigate and write is an intrinsic part of education. What is most important is to share and communicate that knowledge to others. And, in her book, Díaz Zambrana achieves precisely this.

Díaz Zambrana, R.L. (2025). Cine boricua 2000-2024: Nación, identidad y resistencia en la cinematografía puertorriqueña de ficción del siglo XXI. Publicaciones Gaviota.

The author is finishing her doctoral thesis on the political economy of communications, cultural consumption, mediatization, and virtual communities.