Makenya leaves behind fun and dancing with her friends in search for work; an unwanted pregnancy confronts her with sudden adulthood. The teenager lives alongside her grandfather and mother in the Batey, a Dominican-Haitian community of sugarcane workers. The mother is a servant of “The Mysteries” within the 21 divisions of Afro-Dominican spirituality, and the grandfather is an activist for pension rights. The mechanization of the sugar industry threatens to displace them without compensation. The family resists the change. Makenya reunites with her friends in a parallel and Afro-futuristic dimension. In a theatrical exercise, they read documents from the colonial era, recall the black uprisings on the island, and recover ancestral knowledge that forms a sort of anti-racist and decolonial manifesto. Later she receives guidance from “The Mysteries” through her mother. She finds her power.

Johanné Gómez Terrero is an Afro-diasporic artist who positions her work within a Caribbean and decolonial framework. Her field of interest and study encompasses Complex Thinking Anti-Racist Struggle, and Marronage Cinema. The documentary CARIBBEAN FANTASY sparked her career as a director. She is also involved as a producer and consultant in various development labs. She is a graduate, teacher, and chair coordinator at EICTV Cuba, and holds a master’s degree from ESCAC in Spain.

Filmography: 2014 BAJO LAS CARPAS, 2016 CARIBBEAN FANTASY (both documentaries), 2024 SUGAR ISLAND

Awards: Fondazione Fai Persona Lavoro Ambiente Award, Inclusion and Sustainability Edipo Re Award (Venice International Film Festival, Italy 2024)