2023 Tribeca Film Festival – Interview with ‘Boca Chica’ Director Gabriella A. Moses

During the Tribeca Festival, I spoke to Gabriella A. Moses about her debut feature film, which was in competition as an entry from the Dominican Republic in the International Narrative Competition section. Gabriella revealed her unique and often serendipitous journey bringing her film to fruition and her collaboration with the producer and screenwriters on this nearly all-female crew.

Director, writer, and production designer Gabriella A. Moses is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Gabriella has received support from the Sundance Institute, New York Women in Film & TV, Tribeca Film Institute, The Black List, WScripted, SFFILM, and The Gotham. She was most recently featured on the 2023 Black List Latinx List and was selected for the 2022 LALIFF x Netflix Latinx Inclusion Fellowship Program with her short Sin Raíces'.

About Boca Chica: Desi spends her days dreaming on the beaches of Boca Chica of becoming a famous singer, but her goal is threatened by the insidious future that awaits some of the girls in her town. A future that is perpetuated by some of those closest to her. Only her music can save her.

KOUGUELL: Tell me about the evolution of the project. I understand that the producer Sterlyn Ramírez came to you with the project.

MOSES: I had two features in the works when Sterlyn Ramírez’s email appeared in my inbox, asking if I was interested in a project she had in development. All I knew was that it dealt with sex tourism in the Caribbean. One of my two projects, El Timbre De Tu Voz (The Sound of Your Voice) also surrounded those topics. The film was recognized on the Black List, won the Fresh Voices screenplay competition’s prize for Best Drama screenplay, and the Diversity & Inclusion and Culture & Heritage Awards. It was a subject familiar to me. I was curious to learn how the producer was going to approach this.

We talked about Boca Chica, and the tourists and expats with these young girls, and wondered what’s going on; why are people turning a blind eye and normalizing it? This was a global issue and it was happening in our backyards.

I was thinking, I already have my script that’s ready. And then I learned there are two writers attached and I thought, oh, that’s crazy, their film Pelo Malo, was in my lookbook. It’s kismet. The film explores colorism like my Leche. It just felt like this was the journey that I was meant to go on.

KOUGUELL: Let’s discuss how you collaborated with the screenwriters. Marité Ugas (from Peru) and Mariana Rondón (from Venezuela) both of whom are accomplished filmmakers themselves.

MOSES: Early on I asked why they weren't directing it. I know they are incredible storytellers but Sterlyn wanted a young Dominican voice involved. The story was very universal. It’s about girlhood. It resonated with me; being sexualized from an early age, and seeing that around the world not just in the Dominican Republic.

I was able to come on early in the writing process, they had the story idea and the treatment. The screenwriters were gracious from the start. We had joint calls. We went to Boca Chica together, we found locations for the script then, which gave us more story and character ideas.

There are so many universal themes; how young girls see themselves and find their own voice. That Desi voice I’ve also experienced myself. I grew up where everyone didn’t look like me.

KOUGUELL: The tension between the mother and daughter (Desi) was palpable throughout the film.

MOSES: The reality of Desi’s world was delicate. We needed the layers of hope and danger. It was important that the film was from Desi’s point of view. There’s a lot she still doesn’t understand but Desi knows what she doesn’t want.

KOUGUELL: The color palate in your film was striking.

MOSES: I’m also a production designer, and I leaned into it. That world-building is important. Mariana said we’re giving you all this room to breathe, and we know that you are a writer and we (the writers and producer) give you the space to breathe.

KOUGUELL: Your grandparents immigrated from the Dominican Republic. How was your experience filming there? Full circle?

MOSES: We wrapped almost a year to the day of my abuela’s death; it was incredibly emotional. I got to own that I’m the gringa director but I never felt in terms of executing the story that everyone there wasn’t holding my hand. Every interview we had with department heads, and key cast, I was going to immerse myself; it was going to be in Spanish and it was incredible.

Boca Chica had its World Premiere in the International Narrative Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11, 2023.

Gabriella A. Moses received the 11th Annual Nora Ephron Award for Boca Chica.

Upcoming Screening:

AMC 19th St. East 6