As part of Cultural Ties at Kennedy Heights Arts Center (part of the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial: The Long View), an ongoing exhibition exploring Latin American culture, identity, heritage, and representation, guest film curator Mary Leonard will present Sin vergüenza, a compilation of short films featuring Latinx performers, alongside the feature-length film Carmita (directed by the directorial team based in the Dominican Republic, Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas). Following the screenings, Leonard will lead a Q&A with the audience and share more about her ongoing Caribbean Eye film project. Sin vergüenza is a series of short film clips and videos featuring unabashed, uninhibited performances by Cuban and Puerto Rican female and female-identifying singers and dancers from the 1940s through the present.
This event, free and open to the public, takes place on Saturday, September 12, and Saturday, October 10, from 12:00 noon to 3:30pm (EDT), at Kennedy Heights Arts Center Lindner Annex (6620 Montgomery Road), in Cincinnati, Ohio. Read film synopsis and descriptions below.
Caribbean Eye presents Sin Vergüenza (Shameless): A series of short film clips and videos featuring unabashed, uninhibited performances by Cuban and Puerto Rican female and female-identifying singers and dancers spanning the period from the 1940s through the present, followed by the feature film Carmita, directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas (2013, 80 min).
The curator of Sin Vergüenza, Mary Leonard, will introduce and discuss the different ways these performers broke ground at different times, impacting audiences and leaving their mark because they dared to say and do what not everyone would or could at a particular moment in time, or, if they were unable to do this, what held them back. Join us to discuss your impressions of these performers and performances after watching the films.
About the Sin Vergüenza short film clips and music videos: All feature confident performers who are unapologetically sexy and/or break gender norms. Early performers clad in revealing outfits stare at the camera as they shake what they’ve got. Singers are transported as they succumb to passion and ecstasy. Women stare lustfully at women. Women appropriate supposedly male musical genres. Women and men reinvent themselves and their public images, playing with gender codes. They are sometimes overtly sexual, sometimes bluntly political. They attract your gaze and stare right back. All the twenty first century films and music videos were directed by female filmmakers from the Caribbean. Visitors are invited to pick up the Sin Vergüenza catalogue with information about the exhibit and the performers in the films.
Synopsis of Carmita: At the beginning of the decade of the 1950s, Carmen Ignarra left Cuba with the intention of becoming a Hollywood star but, she recounts, her career was cut short by her controlling husband, the Mexican producer Santiago Reachi. Today, she survives, surrounded by her memories, in an old semi-abandoned mansion. However, as Laura Amelia cleans and restores the house and engages Carmita in conversation, a more complex psychological portrait is revealed.
For more information, see https://events.humanitix.com/film-screening-with-mary-leonard-september-12
For more about Mary Leonard, see https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/leonarm8