El Taller de Naldi / Naldi's Workshop

Carlos Rivera Fernandez

2023 / 31 minutes
Puerto Rico / Puerto Rico
Spanish with English Subtitles

El Taller de Naldi is a journey that chronicles the visual history of Puerto Rico, inspired by the paintings of Arnaldo Fernández Cruz, an octogenarian folk artist. Together with his grandson, filmmaker Carlos, this painter and director pair become the authors of a narrative that shines a perennial, memorial light on Arnaldo’s hometown of Cupey. Through a series of testimonies, ranging from hilarious epithets of his rural youth to unsettling histories from Puerto Rico’s colonial past, the film captures the essence of the place and its people. Simultaneously, Arnaldo and Carlos collaborate in a reciprocal creative process, engaging deeply with each other’s work. By mixing historiography and folklore with an experimental approach to the artist’s craft, El Taller de Naldi transcends being merely a meditation on the role of art in preserving national memory; it is also an intimate portrait of the personal relationship between a grandfather and his grandson.