I have struggled to define what I do since I started as a filmmaker, growing up between Humacao, Puerto Rico and Orlando, Florida. I used my cinematic work to help define myself until I felt lost in the product of my creative labor. Come my Saturn Return, I knew something had to change, so I moved to the DC area.

Once in the DC area, I’ve found my vocation in studying, writing, and analyzing the work of cinematic subcultures that have formed my world view since I was a small child. Whether it’s my studies of genre cinema and foreign perceptions within hegemonic gazes, or my work on underdeveloped film economies in the Caribbean, I use every opportunity I can to have conversations about the power of cinema in shaping social relations and perspectives.

I still remember why I wanted to get into film. I was 17, walking a beach in Luquillo, texting a friend about hopes for the future, when she asked me when I felt best in my life. I didn’t hesitate as I told her, “Probably when I’m watching movies.” That pull to screen realities formed a mystification that has now become my scalpel to incise such figments. These feelings still charge my drive to explore, ask questions, and form opinions about the media that surrounds us.

In order to understand our world, we have to understand how we see each other in the mediated imaginations we project across class, race, gender, and geographic positionality. Additionally, this intuition informs every personal project I’ve joined to find people of similar passions, such as the zines and podcasts I’ve created and co-created.

My name is May Santiago, and I am a writer, researcher, teacher, and filmic essayist. I am always looking for new conversations to have, so please reach out to me if you’re interested in discussion, collaboration, or viewing more of my work.