Miguelito: A Song to Puerto Rico
(Miguelito: canto a Borinquen)
Sam Zubrycki | Documentary, Musical
2020 | 94 minutes | Colombia, Australia, Puerto Rico
Reminiscent of Searching for Sugar Man, the filmmaker follows the steps of Puerto Rico's child music sensation Miguelito. Featuring incredible archival footage of NYC in the 70s’ and salsa performances from Papo Lucca’s La Sonora Poncena, Malo Malo and many others, this is a film that celebrates the musical and cultural depth of the Caribbean.
Synopsis
In 1973, the eleven-year-old Miguelito was discovered singing in San Juan airport by the legendary New York record producer Harvey Averne. Within a year, he went from the slums of Manuel A. Pérez to recording an album with the finest salsa musicians of the time, to finally performing with Eddie Palmieri at Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people. Every radio station played some of his tracks, like Payaso and Canto a Borinquen. A year later, he had disappeared from public life.
Reminiscent of Searching for Sugar Man, filmmaker Sam Zubrycki and legendary music producer Harvey Averne follow Miguelito’s steps to find him. Featuring incredible archival footage of NYC in the 70s’ and salsa performances from Papo Lucca’s La Sonora Poncena, Malo Malo and many others, this is a film that celebrates the musical and cultural depth of the Caribbean, as well as the music industry, but most of all, Miguelito’s life, music, and the world he inhabited.
* Spanish language audio description is available via the ALL4ACCESS App and/or .wav file when purchasing a DSL license.
Accessibility for these films was created by DICAPTA and funded under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education- Office of Special Education-OSEP, project “Enhanced Access to Video for Students with Sensory Disabilities through Emerging Technology,” TV Access H327C210001.
Reviews
"Part portrait of a legendary child prodigy, part detective story, part family drama and always filled with layers of revelation and irony, Miguelito is an emotional cross-cultural journey from NYC to Puerto Rico to Colombia and back -- celebrating the joys of salsa music, and the hopes and dreams, but also the harsh realities, of life in the music industry." — Alan Berliner, Filmmaker
"An impressive debut...a heartfelt ode to music and culture, while also a cautionary tale about the music business and the significance of family." — Dov Kornits, Filmink
"Absolutely loved it, the subject matter is really fascinating." — Gilles Peterson
Citation
Main credits
Zubrycki, Sam (filmmaker)
Averne, Harvey (on-screen participant)
Other credits
Cinematography, Hanley Zheng [and 4 others]; editor, Sam Zubrycki & Rolando Olalia.
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Caribbean Studies
Culture + Identity
Family
Labor Studies
Latinx
Migration Studies
Music
North America
Sociology
Youth
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Antenna Documentary Film Festival - Best Australian Documentary
San Juan International Film Festival - Honorable Mention
Oaxaca Film Festival - Best Documentary
International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias
Margaret Mead Documentary Film Festival
Raindance Film Festival
DIRECTOR: Sam Zubrycki
NATIONALITY: Colombia, Australia, Puerto Rico
YEAR: 2020
GENRE: Documentary, Musical
LANGUAGE: Spanish; English
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adults
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: AVAILABLE
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