Guillermo Gómez Álvarez

Birth : 1973-01-01,

History

Guillermo Gómez Álvarez was born in Veracruz, Mexico in 1973 and was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico since he was three years old. Gómez Álvarez is an alumnus from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus where he obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Arts (1996), majoring in Latin American Studies, and also a Master's Degree in Arts (2005), majoring in Audiovisual Production. In 2007, he completed a Master's Degree in Creative Documentary at Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. He is a fiction and documentary filmmaker, a music video director, as well as a musician and photographer. His first full-length documentary was La escena [The Scene] (2005), on Puerto Rico's punk subculture, which was part of Gómez Álvarez Master's thesis project. La rosa de María [Mary’s Rose] (2007) was also part of a thesis project at Universtiat Autónoma de Barcelona and aired on Televisió de Catalunya (TVC) in 2007. Aquel rebaño azul [The Blue Flock] won the Accolade Film Award in 2009. This film was commissioned by the Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission and it explores the history of police brutality in Puerto Rico. Una Identidad en Absurdo Vol. 1 is his latest work, released in April 2011. Leaning towards an experimental concept, this documentary explores deconstructing Puerto Rican identity through music.

Movies

Una identidad en absurdo Vol. 1
Una identidad en absurdo Vol. 1
Director
Guillermo Gómez Álvarez explores the identity politics of Puerto Rico via archival footage from various sources that clash with nine original songs from local independent musicians and a thematic analysis from a psychoanalyst and a historian. From the juxtaposition the absurd becomes coherent and the coherent becomes absurd as Puerto Rican identity is defined and rejected almost simultaneously.
Aquel rebaño azul
Aquel rebaño azul
Director
A historical account of the complex plot surrounding police brutality in Puerto Rico, by means of vivid videos intertwined with eyewitness accounts. The documentary is a reflection of the near mute reality that affects societies everywhere, a situation in which protectors victimize those they have sworn to protect.
La escena
La escena
Director
What is "la escena" (the scene) and what is its importance, if any? Guillermo Gómez Álvarez tries to answer these questions with candid interviews from musicians and fans of the vibrant and, many times controversial, punk music scene in Puerto Rico. The decadence, rage, drugs, alcohol, politics, and social aspects are showcased in this documentary that tells an important part of the history of the great dysfunctional family that is "el punk boricua".
(él) corazón delator
(él) corazón delator
Director
Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's work: The Tell-Tale Heart, this documentary is an exploration of gender violence in Puerto Rico. It is based on an investigation on femicide and other crimes against women and the role of the media and the State in handling these behaviors and practices of violence. This documentary immerses itself in the exploration of specific cases in three periods of Puerto Rico's history.