Early in 2021, Costa Rican filmmaker Antonella Sudasassi launched a pioneering initiative in her home country: the Unión de Directoras de Cine Costa Rica, or the Union of Female Film Directors of Costa Rica, in literal translation. The organization, which aimed to create a “more egalitarian and diverse society by promoting an equitable presence of women in the writing, creation, production, evaluation, and distribution of narratives and audiovisual content,” quickly ballooned to 24 members, growing steadily in the years since.
The organization reflected a pattern in this new generation of filmmakers in the Central American country, largely comprised of women, with many telling stories focused on issues of womanhood and, most specifically, being a woman in Costa Rica today. In the last five years alone, there have been several female-directed breakout films coming out of the country, including Sudasassi’s Berlin award-winning “Memories of a Burning Body,” Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola” and Valentina Maurel’s breakout Locarno laureate “I Have Electric Dreams.”
The recently-wrapped 13th edition of the Costa Rica International Film Festival marked the first helmed by a woman, the also director Patricia Velásquez, and saw a focus on female filmmakers from Central America. Variety spoke with several female directors on the ground to take the temperature of the industry, not only more broadly in a country with a burgeoning cinema but also to enquire about why they think women are paving the way for their national New Wave.
“I would like to believe this surge is both a response and a rebellion,” says Sudasassi. “The years of inclusion in education, as well as the absence of a deeply established industry, allowed us to imagine new structures – ones that don’t replicate the old hierarchies. Many of us have come into filmmaking with a desire not just to tell stories, but to challenge power dynamics, question gender roles and speak from embodied experience.”
Sofia Quirós (“Land of Ashes”) echoes this sentiment, saying the “the country’s social and political stability also helped foster this environment for female empowerment,” and that she grew up surrounded by women who were leaders in their professions, something that allowed her to “never doubt I could make films or lead a production.”
“Red Princesses” director Laura Astorga, however, begs for caution when romanticizing this movement, calling it a “paradoxical phenomenon.” “Keep this phrase from economics in mind: The more women, the less power; the more power, the fewer women. That’s our reality,” she adds.
“Films cost between half a million and two million dollars. Ours are being made with about $100,000 to $200,000,” continues Astorga. “What that means is across the board: precariousness. These films look like they cost more, but that just means every department is underpaid. And let’s not forget: the only people culturally trained to manage scarcity with skill are usually women. That’s the root cause behind this trend. The only truly beautiful outcome is symbolic: more girls seeing women directing, more girls dreaming they could too.”
Astorga also reiterates that, while women have space in the country’s national cinema, they are still largely excluded from the industry’s most lucrative arm: advertising. “That’s a world we women aren’t invited into – due to plain and simple sexism. The same goes for the creative tables at ad agencies. From those tables, decisions are made about who will direct X or Y campaign, and 99% of the time, they choose a man. The 1% of the time it’s a woman, it’s usually for ads about pads, diapers or diet products. And I should clarify—this is more a Central American issue than one exclusive to Costa Rica.”
That being said, producer-actor Adriana Álvarez is hopeful and praises the new generation of women in film in Costa Rica, stating they carry a “sharp awareness of what we want to say and how we want to say it. And we owe that clarity, in part, to the women who came before us and paved the way.”
“I think the very complexity that defines us as women gives our narratives a powerful, honest quality—one that deeply resonates with audiences,” adds the producer. “Globally, the film industry remains largely male-dominated, so it’s truly exciting to see Costa Rican women gaining recognition at some of the world’s most prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Locarno, Berlin and San Sebastián.”
Below, you’ll find five female Costa Rican filmmakers to watch:
Courtesy of Manrique Cortés
Antonella Sudasassi
The director, screenwriter, and producer’s first film, “The Awakening of the Ants,” premiered at the Berlinale in 2019 and became the first-ever Central American film to receive a Goya nomination. Her second effort, “Memories of a Burning Body,” about women’s sexuality later in life, also premiered in Berlin, where it won the Panorama Audience Award for Best Feature Film. The film was also the country’s entry for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards. Sudasassi founded Costa Rica-based Substance Films alongside Manrique Cortés and is currently working alongside her partner on his feature debut, “Monsters,” in co-production with Catalonia’s Playlab Films.
Laura Astorga
Producer-director Astorga has a long, varied curriculum that includes work in Costa Rican and Nicaraguan TV and cinema, and working as an on-camera acting tutor and casting director for over 100 commercials, features, and shorts. Her feature short, “They Love Each Other,” premiered in Locarno, while her feature debut, “Red Princesses,” made its first bow in Berlin and was later acquired by Latido Films. Astorga is currently working on “Animal Lluvioso,” a co-production between Costa Rica’s República Feminista and Panama’s Hoja de Bijao with plans to begin shooting early 2026. The film follows three intertwined stories to pose questions of modern environmentalism in Costa Rica.
Courtesy of Locarno Film Festival
Valentina Maurel
The French-Costa Rican director’s feature debut, “I Have Electric Dreams,” won best actress, actor and director at Locarno, as well as the Horizontes Latinos Award at San Sebastián and best film at several festivals including Thessaloniki and Goa. Maurel is currently working on her sophomore feature, although details are under wraps, as well as having recently joined “No One Knows We Play Today,” a collaborative project she’ll direct alongside Felipe Zúñiga (“La Picada”). The film is a co-production between Maurel’s Tres Tigres Films, Adriana Álvarez and Ana Lucía Arias of Goral Films, and Spain’s Malvalanda Films (“The Mole Agent”). Up-and-coming producer Álvarez also stars in the film, which is loosely based on the life of Shirley Cruz, one of Costa Rica’s most famous female soccer players.
Courtesy of Oscar Medina
Sofia Quirós
Argentinian-Costa Rican director Quirós’s feature debut “Land of Ashes,” about a 13-year-old girl living in the rainforest in Costa Rica who cares for an ailing grandfather, was the first film selected by a competitive section at the Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere in Critics’ Week in 2019. Quirós is currently working on her sophomore feature, “Madre Pájaro” (“Mother Bird”), produced by Sputnik Films, in co-production with El Viaje (Spain), Vulcana Cinema (Brazil), Staer Films (Norway), and Promenade Films (France). “Madre Pájaro” was shot in Guanacaste, in the north of Costa Rica, and wrapped filming in March this year. Quirós is currently editing in Buenos Aires.
Courtesy of Juan Caliva
Patricia Velásquez
Velásquez, now the head of the Costa Rica International Film Festival, is a director and producer who co-founded production label Tiempo Líquido in 2008 to produce content for film, TV, and online. Velásquez’s latest, “The Skin of the Water,” premiered in Locarno last year, and she is already working on her next project, “Where Do Birds Go When It Rains?” The drama is produced by Velasquez’s Costa Rica-based Tiempo Liquido and has just landed a co-production deal with Spain’s Potenza Producciones (“Calladita,” “The Memory of Water”) with filming planned to start in the second semester of 2025.
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