Karen Rossi

Documentary filmmaker, writer, director, editor, medicine woman, and mother. My earliest memories of loving being a storyteller take me to H street in Ponce, Puerto Rico, where our neighbors would sit in their balconies and listen to my joke telling. I’m the youngest of eight siblings, amongst whom I learned to raise my voice. In 1996, I graduated from Tufts University in Medford, MA, with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations focused on Latin America and a minor in Italian. My first job was as a financial journalist in New York City. In 1998, I began my career in the film industry as a production assistant at Inskip Productions and then worked as a freelancer. Eventually, I was assistant editor for the film Y tu Mamá También.

Amongst the films that I’ve written and directed are Ser Grande (When I grow up…), a feature documentary film (2018); Isla Chatarra (Scrap Island), winner of an EMMY [Suncoast] (2008); Alguien Cuida tu Morada (The grave guardian), a short documentary film (2020); Machuchaleras, a short documentary film (2020).

In recent years I’ve been studying screenplay writing with the Guionarte method. I am trilingual, fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian. I am a founding member of the Documentary Film Association in Puerto Rico (AdocPR). I love to be a mother, and when my two sons were kids, I enjoyed having the car full of boys while taking them to their basketball and soccer games. I am a versatile woman, a lover of culture. I enjoy weaving my biological motherhood with creative filmmaking.