Today we’d like to introduce you to May Santiago
Hi May, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am a cultural studies scholar and essay filmmaker. I specialize in Puerto Rican studies, particularly at the sections of horror queer, and feminist studies. I grew up between Orlando and Puerto Rico, and then made the move up to the DC area in 2018. After living in PG county, Fairfax County, and DC itself, I fell in love with Baltimore and the arts scene here. I moved in the fall of 2023, and I have been active in various communities since. Right now, I’m finishing up my PhD dissertation, and I’m in production for two different experimental documentaries I hope to release this year.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a very rocky and unconventional road. I didn’t come from the best home life, and I also came from a less privileged background. I took many detours and probably stayed in Florida for too long. However, every path I’ve taken has brought me to Baltimore at the right moment. I feel like I’m made to be in this city right at this moment. I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much had I not gone through so much struggle and understood what felt really wrong and what feels really right.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I mostly make experimental documentaries called essay films. I was trained in this practice by my mentor, the renowned experimental filmmaker Chris Harris. A lot of my dissertation work is archive-based, which feels limiting oftentimes. Therefore, I exercise the more rigid parts of my archival practice by translating them into essay films, which emphasize subjectivity within their exploration of documentation. I have been nominated twice for the Best Video Essays selection of Sight & Sound within the British Film Institute, and I have played at film festivals all over the world. Most of my films explore the marginalized intersections of Puerto Rican identity and history, which is what makes me proudest. Being Puerto Rican is one of the most precious aspects of my identity and something I cherish, especially having grown up on the island. I want to honor my people and my culture in the best ways I know how, even if those manners are more unconventional. Embracing my queerness and darkness has been very important to me throughout this process, especially when those aspects of myself made me feel shame in Puerto Rican-majority communities as I was growing up.
What makes you happy?
Baltimore is what makes me happiest. I can take a walk around Mt. Vernon, go out with my friends, explore trails, or hit up a market and feel like I’m home. In a few short years, I have built a network around myself I never had in any place I ever lived. I always say Baltimore gives me purpose, that it saved my life. I feel a deep honor working in a city with so much character, history, and culture, and I hope to die weaving my legacy with Baltimore and paying tribute to all of the communities that came before me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maillim.com/
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/maysoleum
