Carhianie J. Vargas Padín

We Are Still Here is a student-made documentary from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez campus (UPRM) about the lives and experiences of the Peñolanos from Barrio Rucio and adjacent communities who have resisted generations of adversities due to their geographical location and at the hands of the Puerto Rican government. Centered on resistance and collective care among communities, this inaugural documentary produced by the Oral History Lab at UPRM and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities showcases how community work by projects like Aula en la Montaña and organizations like Impacto Juventud GC Inc. demonstrate that strength lies in union and that true healing occurs through mutual accompaniment between community and volunteers.

"Nuestro pedazo de tierra" is a student documentary from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) that explores, through interviews with farmers, mutual aid organizers, and government officials, the severity of food insecurity in the Puerto Rican archipelago during and after Hurricane María. This inaugural documentary, produced by the Oral History Lab (OHL) and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, focuses on the ways in which layered disasters—interwoven within the context of a complex economic and political landscape—further eroded an already unstable local food system at both the production and agricultural distribution levels.

The Water Protectors is a student-made documentary pilot that briefly explores the topics of hyper development, unregulated sewage disposal, contamination, climate change, and community action in the west coast of Puerto Rico through initiatives led by Surfrider Foundation Rincón—an organization that works alongside volunteers to study, preserve, and defend local water sources through education, activism and community partnerships.

In 1950s Puerto Rico, Luz confronts the loss of her baby in silence while trying to reconstruct her life in a society determined to make and judge all of her decisions.

Based on the prologue of When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago, this short film narrates the experience of Esmeralda, a young woman who, upon coming across a familiar object in the supermarket, navigates a sea of memories, recounting her early experiences in Puerto Rico. Through her senses, she awakens fleeting diasporic feelings.