video art
In addition to documentary and participatory cinema, I explore video art as a visual language that expands the possibilities of storytelling. Unlike traditional narrative formats, video art allows me to work with poetic rhythms, symbolic imagery, and layered soundscapes to evoke emotion and meaning beyond the literal. It becomes a space to connect with other temporalities—slower, cyclical, intuitive—and to reflect on memory, absence, and presence. Through video installations, looping sequences, or contemplative shots, I invite viewers into a more meditative encounter with time and image—opening portals between personal experience and collective history, between stillness and transformation.
Title: Deja respirar a la bestia
Year: 2019
Duration: 6:00 minutes
Country: Puerto Rico
Direction, Script, Cinematography, and Editing: Llaima Suwani
Description:
A contemplative short film that honors the stillness and quiet strength of a resting ox. Deja respirar a la bestia invites viewers to witness the animal’s breath—not as metaphor, but as its most essential, natural function. Through minimalism and patience, the film becomes a meditation on presence, dignity, and the right to simply exist.
Title: la esperanza no es esa cosa con alas
Year: 2008
Duration: 2:30 minutes
Country of Production: Cuba
Director: Llaima Suwani Sanfiorenzo
Cinematography & Editing: Juan Soto Taborda (Colombia)
Description:
A playful yet poignant visual metaphor, this short film builds a quiet expectation of triumph—guided by the journey of two small chicks climbing a mountain. la esperanza no es esa cosa con alas questions conventional ideas of hope, success, and resilience, offering a humble reflection through simplicity and symbolism.
Title: Mnemósine
Year: 2020
Duration: 18:30 minutes
Location: Puerto Rico (PRAI)
Directed and Written by: Llaima Suwani Sanfiorenzo
Guest Artist: Karen Langevin
Cinematography: Brendaliz Negrón
Editing: Marie Alicia González
Sound: Johannes Peters
Supported by: Mellon Foundation & Northwestern University, Chicago
Description:
Mnemósine reconstructs five intense days lived inside the U.S. Navy bombing zone in Vieques in 2002. Through a poetic and reflective lens, the film revisits the disorientation, thirst, and psychological toll of that experience—set against the dry, scorched landscape of the island. It draws connections between imperial military violence, decades of trauma in Puerto Rico, and the historical experimentation on women's bodies. A personal and political act of remembrance, Mnemósine is both testimony and resistance.
Title: Con tu mano y la mía hacia la libertad
Year: 2010
Duration: 10:30 minutes
Country of Production: Sahrawi Refugee Camps, Algeria, Africa
Direction, Script & Cinematography: Llaima Suwani Sanfiorenzo
Sound: Moabe Filho (Brazil)
Description:
A poetic exploration of everyday life in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, Con tu mano y la mía hacia la libertadcaptures the resilience and cultural richness of a people in exile. Through rituals like tea ceremonies, traditional songs, and wedding celebrations, the film reflects the enduring hope of reclaiming their homeland in Western Sahara—a daily act of resistance through memory, community, and joy.