The Sundance Film Festival is set to premiere some high-profile documentaries in 2020. The audiences in Park City, Utah, will be the first to screen projects about two legendary Puerto Ricans: Walter Mercado and Luis Miranda.
Directed by Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch, Mucho Mucho Amor focuses its lens on the world-famous astrologer. The festival’s synopsis describes the trajectory of the movie as: “Raised in the sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico, Walter grew up to become a gender-nonconforming, cape-wearing psychic whose televised horoscopes reached 120 million viewers a day for decades before he mysteriously disappeared.” It will likely be a bittersweet screening since Mercado did not live to see his documentary premiere.
Siempre, Luis from director John James follows Luis Miranda (the father of Broadway scribe Lin-Manuel Miranda) in his “improbable journey from Puerto Rico to the halls of power.” The documentary will chart his life and career as a political activist and strategist including bringing the cast of Hamilton to Puerto Rico for a performance of the award-winning musical after Hurricane Maria hit the island. Lin-Manuel, naturally, is set to appear in the film.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is also involved with another documentary screening at the festival. We Are Freestyle Love Supreme chronicles the 15-year journey of the founding members of an improv hip-hop group. Lin-Manuel acts as a producer and is a subject of the project alongside Thomas Kail, Anthony Veneziale, Christopher Jackson, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Chris Sullivan.
It’s going to be a very Puerto Rican Sundance.