Maricarmen Merino
Directing
Known For

Abril is a sharp-tongued, exhausted social worker whose life is held together by caregiving, obligation, and a constant state of emotional triage. Recently divorced, she raises her teenage daughter Valentina in a cramped, precarious domestic rhythm that feels increasingly unsustainable. During a family therapy session, Valentina announces she wants to move in with her father Julián, whose life appears effortless by comparison. As she faces an empty house, Abril finds an unexpected spark of possibility in Gabriel, a charming bartender whose warmth offers escape from her carefully managed despair. The budding romance opens the door to a version of herself unshaped by marriage or motherhood, but her own insecurities and unresolved history with Julián threaten to derail her progress. When buried truths about the end of their marriage unexpectedly surface, Abril reaches a breaking point - collapsing under the weight of her grief, professional burnout, and growing isolation.
ABRIL

A modern dancer must learn to juggle love, family, and her career while she auditions for a prestigious foreign dance company.
Aquí y ahora

An emotional journey that takes us into one father – daughter relationship, through their struggles and dificultéis, ending in the house by the sea where they were happy together.
Lupulos' House
A portrait of the country of Mexico, as seen through the eyes of Mario Rojas Alba, a physician and former member of Congress, who fled to Montreal as a political refugee after surviving a brutal physical assault. During a cautious trip home, he guides us through the workings of political repression and violence in Mexico. The resulting film reveals the darker side of this vast country which became our official trading partner in 1994 under NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), an accord criticized by a great many Mexicans, especially the indigenous people of Chiapas, who rose in revolt, demanding a more just and democratic society. On the Day of the Dead, families and friends remember those who have "disappeared"; widows lay flowers on the graves of husbands slain for opposing the ruling party. By their side, Alba reaffirms his commitment to a peaceful transition toward true democracy.
Mexico Dead or Alive

Faced with the possibility of electing a president with a past of sexual harassment, four Costa Rican filmmakers come together to produce a series of film letters in which they express their discontent, their fears, and their experiences, but at the same time, the invincible power of union that characterizes women in dark times. Each card expresses a different perspective on the experience of women in this patriarchal society.
Nuestras Cartas

Where are you? is a search that began five years ago when José Merino died. José was the most important left-wing leader of Costa Rica, and also the father of Maricarmen, the director. The film is a dialogue between a man’s public political life, and the intimate universe of his family, where his youngest daughter decides to live her grief accompanied by a camera.