Pati Cruz Martínez

Born cuir (queer) and brought up catholic in the colonized archipelago of Borikén (Puerto Rico). The catholic slowly disappeared, the cuir stuck around. From their Caribbean trans body, Pati Cruz Martínez searches for poetry in the mundane through the camera and the pen. Their sensitivity and curiosity drives their work with different mediums inside the filmmaking practice: writing, storytelling, video, and editing. The camera has been both a shield and a lens through which Pati engages with the world, navigating its violence toward marginalized bodies as well as its resistance through perseverance and joy. Pati Cruz Martínez studied Film Directing at the International School of Film and TV in Cuba (2015-2018). They obtained a Bachelor of Arts at Vassar College, New York (2012). Their work has been shown at international film festivals, such as Raindance Film Festival, Philadelphia Latino Film Festival (LOLA award 2020), trinidad+tobago film festival, Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+, Third Horizon Film Festival, and Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival (Silver Image Award). Their work has also been part of exhibitions at Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA), Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art, the Queer Cultural Center in the Bay Area. A Leslie Lohman Museum Artist Fellow (2020-21), Flaherty Seminar Fellow (2023), and EmergeNYC Fellow (2022-23). Their latest short documentary “Casa Laurel” is currently streaming at PBS. In 2020 they co-founded the queer boricua filmmakers collective, Colectivx Colectivx. Pati is currently working on their first feature-length documentary “Nació Simón”, which was part of Firelight Media’s Documentary Lab 2021-23.