Featuring a post-film Q&A with Director Glorimar Marrero-Sánchez moderated by Tracye Matthews, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture · University of Chicago following the Friday, 5/9 7pm screening
Noelia, a 40-year-old Puerto Rican visual artist, discovers her cancer has metastasized after spending several years in remission. Despite the insistence of her partner, Jorge, she refuses to continue her treatment and decides to return to Vieques, the small Caribbean island east of Puerto Rico where she grew up and where her mother, Flora, lives. Once there, she keeps her cancer a secret in order to live freely and throws herself into the work she had dedicated herself to years before – denouncing pollution left by the U.S. Army after years of military exercises on the island.
However, as Noelia’s health worsens and she joins her neighbors to secretly enter closed testing areas to document undetonated bombs and toxic remains, her struggle to survive and the struggle of Vieques to recover from decades of bomb testing become inextricably intertwined. When an approaching hurricane threatens the island and Noelia rekindles an old romance, she faces the decision to leave and seek treatment or stay with her community.
Music Box Theatre screens films of all genres and from every era of cinema, both new releases and repertory. These films may sometimes contain upsetting, outdated, or offensive material. While we aim to introduce many of our screenings, we do not always provide warnings about potentially triggering content within the films we screen. We encourage our patrons to research the film before they attend using trailers, reviews, or content information found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com.
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