{"id":46134,"date":"2026-03-27T15:39:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/?p=46134"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:43:17","slug":"ferre-rangel-school-of-communication-celebrates-puerto-rican-cinema-with-dialogue-on-this-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/ferre-rangel-school-of-communication-celebrates-puerto-rican-cinema-with-dialogue-on-this-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferr\u00e9 Rangel School of Communication Celebrates Puerto Rican Cinema with Dialogue on This Island"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The event was held as part of the Communications Month activity lineup.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Edwin Romero Castro | Student of Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

By Institutional Communications<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began as a creative exploration more than a decade ago has become an internationally recognized film production. This Island<\/em> (2025) is a film project that portrays the resilience of two young Puerto Ricans in the face of the violence they experience on the island. The project was the focus of a discussion held with students and faculty at the Ferr\u00e9 Rangel School of Communication<\/a> during Communications Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event featured Lorraine Jones Molina and Cristian Carretero, co-directors, co-producers, and co-writers of Esta Isla<\/em>, as well as Kisha T. Burgos Sierra, co-writer and professor of Audiovisual Production and Film at Universidad del Sagrado Coraz\u00f3n. During the session, they discussed the creative process behind the project, research for screenwriting, and the challenges of production. For Burgos Sierra, spaces like this help \u201cbridge the gap between academia and the industry,\u201d while also validating students\u2019 aspirations by demonstrating that local projects can achieve international reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones Molina, who is also a Sagrado alumna<\/a>, spoke about how the original idea emerged around 2013, when she and Carretero began exploring the narrative concept of the \u201ccoming-of-age\u201d as a framework to engage with issues facing contemporary issues in Puerto Rico. A year later, the project premiered as a short film, serving as an experiment that helped determine filming locations later on and to refine the development of the rest of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Photos by Chantal Arce<\/strong>
Student of Audiovisual Production and Film<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As part of the project\u2019s development, the co-directors highlighted their participation in the Tribeca Works in Progress<\/em> program as a key opportunity to receive industry feedback while the project was still underway. Since its premiere as a feature film, This Island<\/em> has been recognized at the Tribeca Festival with awards for \u201cBest Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature\u201d and \u201cBest New Directors,\u201d as well as a \u201cSpecial Jury Mention for Best U.S. Narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the creative process and production, students also showed interest in the challenges of film distribution in Puerto Rico\u2014an area that Jones Molina and Carretero are currently navigating for their project. Carretero noted that the cinematic experience must evolve into one that fosters connection and exchange of ideas among audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an academic perspective, Burgos Sierra emphasized that this collaborative dynamic\u2014described during the discussion as a \u201ccollaborative monster\u201d\u2014is also cultivated in the classroom. \u201cThe classroom is not an isolated space, but a production lab,\u201d she explained, highlighting the importance of helping students understand that creative projects require teamwork and real integration across disciplines, in alignment with industry practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeyond technique, the fundamental lesson is that film and communication are acts of resistance, identity, and community. My greatest hope is that students feel motivated to tell their own stories without waiting for permission, understanding that they already have the tools and community at Sagrado to take that first step,\u201d the professor expressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those interested in supporting the project can now watch Esta Isla<\/em> in theaters across Puerto Rico, as well as in the cities of Chicago, Miami, and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The event was held as part of the Communications Month activity lineup. By Institutional Communications What began as a creative exploration more than a decade ago has become an internationally recognized film production. This Island […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":46085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3678,3672,3696,3695],"tags":[4380,5339,5313,5314,5340,5338,5110],"class_list":["post-46134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-communications","category-english-en","category-featured","tag-communications","tag-esta-isla","tag-film","tag-film-production","tag-puerto-rican-film","tag-this-island","tag-universidad-del-sagrado-corazon-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46291,"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46134\/revisions\/46291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insagrado.sagrado.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}