During our brief hiatus last year, we missed announcing the publication of this exciting contribution to Caribbean and Latin American film studies, visual arts studies, and related fields: CINE BORICUA 2000-2024: Nación, identidad y resistencia en la cinematografía puertorriqueña de ficción del siglo XXI [BORICUA CINEMA 2000-2024: Nation, Identity, and Resistance in 21st-Century Puerto Rican Fiction Cinema] (Publicaciones Gaviota, 2024) by Rosana L. Díaz Zambrana.
Description: CINE BORICUA 2000-2024: Nación, identidad y resistencia en la cinematografía puertorriqueña de ficción del siglo XXI offers an in-depth examination of the trends, themes, and obsessions that have shaped contemporary Puerto Rican cinema. Through the analysis of 107 films, this book explores the diverse ways in which “national” cinema reflects, with its distinctive stamp and its own language, social fears, gender identities, phases of female empowerment, masculinities in crisis, racial and social exclusion discourses, as well as the experiences of marginalized subjects such as children, youth, and the elderly. It also addresses the aftermath of colonialism, migration, and neoliberal practices.
With an accessible yet rigorous discussion, Cine Boricua… invites scholars and the general public to reflect on the fundamental role that cinema plays in the construction of a collective cultural identity, the preservation of historical memory, and the multiple forms of resistance within a colonial and globalized context. A tribute to the richness and diversity of Puerto Rican cinema, this book is presented as a key piece for understanding the complexities and tensions of an art form in constant evolution. An essential exploration that defines the present and future of the seventh art in Puerto Rico.
Rosana L. Díaz Zambrana: A native of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Díaz Zambrana holds a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently a professor at Rollins College in Orlando, Florida, where she teaches courses on Latin American literature, culture, and cinema. She has published several essays on cinema. She has also co-edited the volumes Cinema paraíso: representaciones e imágenes audiovisuales en el Caribe hispano [Cinema Paraíso: Representations and Audiovisual Images in the Hispanic Caribbean] (Isla Negra, 2010) and Horrofílmico: aproximaciones al cine de terror en Latinoamérica y el Caribe [Horrofílmico: Approaches to Horror Cinema in Latin America and the Caribbean] (Isla Negra, 2012).
[The book is available through Libros787, Caimito Books, Librería Isla, Librería Laberinto, and Librería Norberto González.]
Read a review of the book (in Spanish) at https://eladoquintimes.com/2025/04/30/cine-boricua-nacion-identidad-y-resistencia-en-la-cinematografia-puertorriquena-de-ficcion-del-siglo-xxi/