Yemaya’s Belly

“Yemaya” is the maternal oceanic goddess of Latin American/Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria. Yemaya’s Belly is about the coming-of-age journey of a young boy that starts on the rural mountain farm of a Caribbean island and ends on the turbulent ocean sailing towards the new world. Young Jesus, in his travels to the sea, encounters the sting of ice-cold coke for the first time, sleeps on the floor and helps Lila run her grocery store expecting to get rich. He wants his name on a neon sign; he wants to stay in the fanciest hotel and meet America’s President. He never stops dreaming of the land where, as his young port-rat friend, Maya, tells him, there are “1000 different kinds of coke.” A poetic epic about immigration, dangers and dreams.