Cuentero Productions

Mucho más. Mejor. Bastante. Está muy bien. (Or the 69th San Francisco International Film Festival) 🌁 🎥 🎞️ 🎭

Thrilled to share that I’m joining the Judging Academy for the 5th Annual @signalawards ! 🎙️✨ This transition from award-recipient to judge holds a special place for me. It follows a meaningful pattern in my career: some years back, I was honored to be a @sanfranciscofoundation / @nomadicpress poetry winner, and I later had the experience of returning as their judge for non-fiction. Now, having been a Signal Awards Bronze Winner, I am humbled to step into the role of judge for this academy. There is a unique responsibility in judging work when you have felt the weight and passion that goes into the creative process. I’m ready to meet this year’s submissions with that humbling perspective and with the duty to respect and honor the work I’m lucky enough to listen to. Muchísimas gracias to Jemma Brown aka @_needsmoresalt for the invitation. It is a privilege to be part of this cohort alongside fellow judges like @lauraubate , @stephanieskuo , and @rachelnpr , to name a few. Side note: If you aren’t already familiar with Jemma’s other work, like previously at @onairfest , or with her Cosmophage Collective over @cosmophage , definitely check them out. It is stellar stuff. To all audio creators: The awards are now OPEN! This season features new categories recognizing the audio work that defines our culture. Enter at signalaward.com by May 8th. I would love to hear your work included. Photograph by @allisonbusch_photography #SignalAwards #RiskTakers #AudioStorytelling #CuenteroProductions #CosmophageCollective

“For six months we’ve been wandering between two worlds. What gives you the right to cross?” The loose-haired women have taken over the @kalwpublicmedia lobby, and they might not even leave until Saturday evening. In this 77°F summery weather but Spring equinox, we invite you to step into the grove where Zarina met the enchanted army of those women that found themselves between the borders of the former Soviet Union, reclaiming who they are, and also trying to find themselves in-between the militaristic threats they face and the community they found in nature ✨ This immersive haunt is a labor of deep collaboration. I and Cuentero Productions want to say a special thank you to: Aaron Wojack (@batwitchghost ): For building the physical world these spirits inhabit. Leslie-Ann Woofter & Casey Leidig: And the whole @catranslation / @TwoLinesPress crew for their incredible support. Sarah Coolidge: editor of the Calico Series and host for yesterday’s Q&A portion. And especially to Sabrina Jaszi & Salomat Vafo: For the poetry, the tears of blood, and the creative bridges that brought this Uzbek prose masterpiece into our hands. We have woven together visuals, sounds, and an experience for you to enjoy while we honor this haunting tale. If you missed our packed launch party yesterday night, don’t fret, you have two more days to experience the haze where the living and the dead meet. Come hear the poems, see the military uniforms, and feel the venomous chill of the border. 🗓️ Open Friday & Saturday 🕚 11:00 am – 5:00 pm 📍 KALW Studio | 220 Montgomery St. 🎟️ FREE and open to the public For now, I’ll kiss life’s eye 🥀 #CuenteroProductions #TwoLinesPress #KALW #SalomatVafo #BadWitchGhost

The medium… is the message

Bay Area: You're invited to our haunted reading room to celebrate the launch of I WAS ALIVE HERE ONCE: GHOST STORIES on Thursday March 19, 7 pm 👻 @batwitchghost , @cuenteroproductions , and the Center for the Art of Translation teamed up to create an artist-made haunted reading room built into the lobby of the @kalwpublicmedia studio on 220 Montgomery St. in downtown San Francisco. 📚️🎤 On March 19 at 7 PM, @sabrijasz will read her translation of “The Loose-Haired Women,” followed by a conversation with @twolinespress Calico Series Editor @s.coolidge . Inspired by the short story “The Loose-Haired Women” by Salomat Vafo, translated from the Uzbek by Sabrina Jaszi and published in I WAS ALIVE HERE ONCE by Two Lines Press, this installation reinvents the classic ghost story, abandoning tired tropes to confront modern political horrors and blurring the lines between the living and the dead. Link in bio to RSVP for the March 19 launch party. Complimentary snacks and beverages will be served. *The Haunted Reading Room will also be open to the public March 19–March 21, 11:00 am–5:00 pm. If you miss the launch party, stop by Friday or Saturday to check out the installation.

Demasiado feliz de anunciar que este año 2026 I’ll be an @SFFILM FilmHouse resident, which has hosted filmmakers I look up to and am inspired by, including @bootsriley , @cocos.sanctuary , @jpdobrin , @yeelen.mov , @art_is_a_scam , @dfree1080p , among many others. And now, in this 2026 class, we got al amigo @d.e.diaz , a great group of cineastas, and the one writing this, joining the residency! During this SFFILM FilmHouse residency, I will be working on finishing the screenplay for my @annieggonzalez and @christopher__rivas narrative project “To SETL,” developing a short-to-feature narrative film titled “A Brick,” and producing an experimental short adapting my @sanfranciscofoundation / @nomadicpress award-winning epic poem “Entombed”. Ad astra! 🎥 🎞️ ✨ Photograph by @allisonbusch_photography #ISawItAtSFFILM #SFFILM #ToSETL #ABrick #Entombed

Ta, Jorvik! Eternally grateful to @aestheticamag ’s @asffestival and the city of @visityork for welcoming me and for becoming the start of the public story of what was the reason for Cuentero to exist in the first place: To SETL. Never has what Dr. Xóchitl (played masterfully by @annieggonzalez ) said to her @berkeleyseti students – in her Introduction to the Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Cosmic Context class – been truer: “Where we come from informs where we’re going.” @christopher__rivas , @annieggonzalez , the rest of the cast and crew, and I couldn’t been happier. ¡Gracias totales! #ToSETL #SETI #METI #SETL

How does blending translation, sound, and performance push the boundaries of understanding? Next Friday, @litquake presents an evening with Camilo Garzón of @cuenteroproductions , and special guests Noelle de la Paz, Monica Cure, and Amanda B. Nazareno. This listening party will guide us through three immersive audio adaptations from the @twolinespress Calico series: an Ecuadorian horror story about altitude sickness transformed into auditory terror, Romanian poetry layered with kitsch and nostalgia, and a Japanese short story with sounds and voices pushing the limits of reality. These multiple translations—from language, to audio, to the stage—unbind narrative from any single form, transcending the boundaries of medium, translation, and performance.

Unbound Translations: A Listening Party with Cuentero Productions & Two Lines Press Friday October 17, 2025 6:30pm - 8:00pm @counterpulse Sponsored by Center for the Art of Translation/Two Lines Press. Part of Words Around the World What happens when a work becomes unbound by language, medium, and format? How does meaning and experience shift? How does blending translation, sound, and performance push the boundaries of understanding? Writer, editor, and creative director @camilo.a.garzon.c and special guests, @elledela , @monica.v.cure , and @catsuitmuse , guide a listening party through three immersive audio adaptations: an Ecuadorian horror story by @monaojedaf about altitude sickness transformed into auditory terror, Romanian poetry by @moni_stanila , @sudeemiliulian , @adelagreceanu and @anastasiagavrilovitch layered with kitsch and nostalgia, and a Japanese short story with sounds and voices pushing the limits of reality. These multiple translations—from language, to audio, to the stage—unbind narrative from any single form, transcending the boundaries of medium, translation, and performance. $15 adv/$20 door Book sales for this event coordinated by the amigos from @medicinefornightmares (@tankhanhcao y el pocho poeta @josiah_luis_pocho ) #Litquake Cc: @yaraki @maruenpluton @juandsl96 @leslievarley @giovanna_lomanto @michaelholtmann @alinajenesaisquoi @bogdancolibas @dianamanole2013 @gabireigh @mmaracin @mandelagajol @s.coolidge @skbooks @earprint2 @sarahinternetdealy @kiarabeltranq @meet.danlau @categoryofoutcast @chadjfelix @mehauber @aya.jane.elizabeth @winonadoesmusic

Two Lines Press and Cuentero Productions present “箱の夫” 🇯🇵  ‘Husband in a Box,’ was included in “Unusual Fragments,” a collection of Japanese fiction edited by @s.coolidge and published by @twolinespress 🎧 The last man of a peculiar family, implausibly tiny in stature, attends a Mozart opera with his dedicated wife 📦 COMING SOON… 10/17/2025 ↓ CREDITS ↓ HUSBAND IN A BOX was written by Tomoko Yoshida ✍🏼 Translated by Margaret Mitsutani 📖 
 It was adapted, directed, and executive produced by @camilo.a.garzon.c 🫡 With assistant direction by @lauraubate 🎬 It was produced by Cuentero Productions under their client-facing trademark, Cuentero Traunseúnte Productions™ 🗣️ Two Lines Press is an imprint of the @catranslation , a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California 🌁 Our cast included:  * @catsuitmuse as Yasuko🎙️ * @eugenenomura as the husband 🎙️ * @suki.jimenez as the mother-in-law 🎙️ Our crew included: - @lauravillamen who was our production intern - @maruenpluton and @yaraki did consulting production - @marialinares did the score  - The koto is played by Sakura ‘Suki’ Jimenez - @danmura_ did the sound design, engineering, and mixing

We are thrilled to announce that our original podcast To SETL, created by Camilo Garzón, and starring Annie Gonzalez as Xóchitl and Christopher Rivas as Andrés, has been selected for the Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2025. This will be the world premiere and we’re honored to be an official selection featured in the festival’s first-ever Podcast Lounge. In the vast expanse of a Scandinavian Sound, an unprecedented aurora borealis phenomenon tests a newly married couple, leaving them to search for answers about their relationship and the presence of extraterrestrial life. Join us on a journey to the stars at the festival in York, UK, from November 5-9. Follow @ASFFestival for updates. Learn more about the project at the link in our bio! #ToSETL #AestheticaFilmFestival #AdAstra

Our investigative series - The Insurgence: Sheriffs aka @theinsurgence.sheriffs - co-produced with @praeyesright and created and hosted by Cloee Cooper aka @xloifayre has been nominated for the Best Indie Podcast category for #TheAmbies aka @theambies ! Congrats to the team behind it: executive producer and co-writer, @camilo.a.garzon.c ; producer and audio editor, @lauraubate ; sound design and mixing by @danmura_ and @juandsl96 ; fact-checker and production assistant, @ohhhh_livia , and many others. ¡Felicidades!