BxFW November: Puerto Rican Heritage Month

ERIC YAMIL CRUZ is an Actor, singer, dancer and choreographer born in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. He has worked a career of 13 years in the national and international theater scene. He has a bachelor’s degree from the UPR Department of Drama and an MFA in Acting from the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts. He is a physical actor trained under the tutelage of Jacqueline Duprey, Dean Zayas, Andrew Robinson, David Bridel, David Warshofsky, Natsuko Ohama, and Andrei Belgrader. She studied musical theater under the mentorship of Vicki Lewis (Broadway: Chicago, Anastasia) and Brett Ryback (Passing Through) and has worked in dance and physical theater under the direction of Viveca Vázquez, Stephanie Shroyer, Robert Curran, Jos Houben, Paola Rizza and Frederic Tellier.

SERGIO DANIEL is a dancer and choreographer born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He began his dance training at C.A.B.A., a School specialized in the arts where he belonged to the Ballet Folklorico de Puerto Rico. He has training in different dance genres such as Classical Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Commercial Hip Hop and Jazz Technique. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management with a minor in Hospitality and Tourism.

KRISTIAN MERCADO Raised between New York’s Spanish Harlem and Puerto Rico, Kristian Mercado discovered his passion for the arts at an early age, often using film as a form of escapism. His psychedelic animated short Nuevo Rico debuted at the 2021 SXSW Festival, garnering the prestigious Animation Jury Award, and is currently being developed into a full-length feature film.

GLORIMAR MARRERO is a film director, screenwriter and interdisciplinary artist whose work is related to grief, identity,  colonialism and gender. Her work includes film, photography and installation.

ALEJANDRA LOPEZ has a knack for social and political content. Her short film “The Blue Cape”, which she wrote and directed, has screened at ten Oscar® qualifying film festivals, including Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, Aspen Shortfest, among others, and was acknowledged with an Honorable Mention in the category for Best Live Action at Cleveland International Film Festival. Alejandra became the first Latina to direct for Marvel Entertainment: a narrative podcast titled “Wolverine: La Larga Noche” starring Joaquin Cosio.

MICHELLE MALLEY CAMPOS is a NYU Tisch alum and WIF/GM Latina Acceleration Grant recipient, Michelle Malley Campos is an award-winning writer-director with over a dozen short films and music videos under her belt and over 15 years of experience in the film industry. A Puerto Rico native, she moved back to the island upon graduating and quickly established herself as a prominent young director while keeping busy with everything from founding a community cinema to leading film workshops for disadvantaged youths to backpacking the world for a year.

LUCIANA FAULHABER  is a first generation Latinx Immigrant. Born in Brazil, she is a descendant of the indigenous tribe Tupi. The first of her family to attend Graduate School she dedicated her time to combining her studies in International Development at Columbia University with her passion for filmmaking as a vehicle for shining a light on political issues with the goal of making a social impact. Founder “Enuff”(Enough) Productions with Javier E. Gomez, with the intent to create opportunities for people of color in front and behind the camera.

Still frame and trailer of EXTRAORDINARY MR. JÚPITER by Federico Torres reproduced by courtesy of the director.

Special thanks to our media broadcast partners at BronxNet Community Television.

This program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For a full list of our distinguished funders, visit www.pregonesprtt.org.