Lia Briones

Ten stories that begin the same way: a couple enters a love-hotel room.

A lonely man who operates a film projector finds his only solace in a woman he sees on a film reel. After the reel is lost in an accident, he sets out to find the woman through the remotest, poorest places of the Dominican Republic.

“Don’t end up alone like I did.” This plea expressed by her grandmother before passing, haunts Tatiana, a single, 40-year-old documentary filmmaker. Filled with questions about what it means to “not end up alone,” Tatiana explores her grandma Teresa’s life: an imposing woman who owned an iconic movie theater, divorced three times and challenged the Dominican social norms of her era. The filmmaker embarks on a journey through family archives, old films and hundreds of letters, constructing —or trying to deconstruct— a story about love, expectations and solitude.

Two old friends enroll in an adult university, looking for adventure, love and fun. What could go wrong?