📩 In Today’s Email

• • TL;DR - What a quiet Colombian film reminded me about story, and how anyone can create now.

  • The Deep Dive - Why I stopped watching films… and how one small movie brought me back.

  • The Stream - Un Poeta, a tender Colombian film about loss, language, and quiet survival.

  • The Watch - Why Now - my new YouTube video on burnout, reinvention, and showing up imperfect.

🤿 The Deep Dive

Cannes in the south of France glitters in a way that flattens memory. So many films, so many faces. So much beauty carefully lit, edited, choreographed.

But beneath the tuxedos and telephoto lenses, something quieter often gets lost.

In a flash, there’s pressure to impress, to ascend, to be seen.

But in a dark cinema in Medellín, far from red carpets or streaming deals, a Colombian film called Un Poeta by Simón Mesa Soto, unfolds like a secret, returning from its own journey to Cannes where it won the Jury Award in Un Certain Regard section, not too shabby for a raw little film set in Medellín.

It doesn’t explain itself. It simply tells the truth and lets the silence do the rest.

The grind flattens the myth

The dark secret, the rude awakening, is that if you’re lucky enough to get your film into a festival, you won’t be there as a cinephile.

You won’t be circling the guide, picking out the films you might never have a chance to see again, or ducking into back rows, watchign four films a day like you imagined. You are part of the dog and pony show. You might be the dog, you might the pony, whatever they want you to be.

You’ll be on display as much as your film. Running to panels. Shaking hands. Giving away tickets to reviewers in hopes they might mention you without burning you down.

And those movie stars walking the red carpet, they just flew on the corporate jet for the night. They know the drill and they at, in Rihanna’s words, work work work work work. They sure look like they are partying and having fun.

Remember… they’re actors.

Maybe even running away from gross, predatory producers. Keep your guard up, no matter how flashy it is, no matter how often you get invited to the Hotel du Cap. Don’t trust anyone.

The pageantry isn’t the work. It’s the curtain call.

There is certain trap that chases creators in every city: make more. Post more. Sell more. Optimize the funnel. Cut to the hook.

Kill your darlings and your silence.

But some stories don’t want to be optimized. They want to simmer.

Which is why it’s a gift to sit, far away from that circuit, and watch a film like Un Poeta. Not a brand vehicle. Not a networking play.

A film.

Content is currency. But story is wealth.

Somewhere between algorithms and ambition, the line between storytelling and content gets blurred.

A camera becomes a metrics measurer, a smoother of skin. A script becomes a brand, a commercial for something else. A life becomes a product.

But every now and then, something slips through that reminds the body: this isn’t about performance. This is about remembrance. 

The poet, in this story, doesn’t “win.” Not like you might in a Michael Bay movie. That’s called a Hollywood ending, and we aint in Hollywood, Dorothy.

Not professionally, not personally. But he sees. He endures. He watches a world that doesn’t value tenderness, where no good deed goes unpunished, and still chooses to speak.

That alone is a kind of survival, and there is a heroism in survival.

And maybe that is what cinema is really for. Not for scale. Not for spectacle.
But to give shape to a feeling too fragile to post.

A small return to the lens

For years, I didn’t watch a single film. One year, I watched only King Kong and The Adams Family. Another year, nothing.

Another year, not one. A gaping, year-long black hole in my cinema history.

Burnout had settled so deep I couldn’t even explain it. The thing I’d loved most, storytelling, simply… stopped calling.

Part of the journey of this newsletter is to explore that, what we do when the spark is gone.

And now, there’s movement again. A small sandbox of YouTube and TikTok, exploring what it feels like to step from behind the camera to in front of it. Perhaps novelty creates spark.

I’m no actor, but there’s something about creating again that feels… necessary.

These videos I’m making, Why Now, is one of them, they’re not polished. They’re not trying to be anything other than honest attempts to explain where I’ve been, where I’m going. I’m making them to see what happens. And to show you that anyone can just do things. You can, too.

So here’s the latest.

It’s called Why Now. Maybe it’s more cinematic than your usual YouTube fare, but that’s what we are doing here. If it’s your cup of coffee, like and subscribe!

The tools are in your pocket now. Anyone can be a creator. It can be a hobby, for friends and family, or you can try to go for it. I’m trying to go for it. As always.

But you do you. The newest generation, Gen Alpha, are already native creators. They don’t blink an eye.

Don’t let them have all the fun.

Stories are permission

The reason films like Un Poeta matter isn’t “reach.” It’s resonance. That old word again we’ve chased forever without knowing exactly what it is, or how to catch it.

A life built for story rather than speed. For soul rather than status. This issue is a small offering. A return to what's vital instead of only chasing what's viral.

The reinvention that lasts goes deeper than money or muscle. It's narrative, and the only thing that truly changes a life is the story it tells itself.

A film. One you have to sit through.

Not swipe through.

🌎 Visa Watch

🇨🇴 Colombia — Digital Nomad Visa approvals are down in 2025 as the government quietly enforces stricter background checks and financial scrutiny. Even strong applicants are being rejected.

🇦🇪 UAE — Now ranked one of the top nomad destinations globally, the Emirates is climbing fast with strong infrastructure, visa options, and business perks for remote workers.

🌏 APAC Region — Countries across Asia-Pacific are racing to launch new digital nomad and highly-skilled worker visas as they compete to attract global talent.

🦜 Rio’s Corner

🍿 The Stream - Un Poeta (2025, Colombia)

I caught this one in theaters last week and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Un Poeta follows a washed-up, alcoholic poet in Medellín who tries to mentor a 15-year-old girl. Not just to help her, but to redeem his failure as a father.

Shot handheld on 16mm, the film is gritty in every sense. Visually. Emotionally. You can feel the lack of coverage. The camera lingers, pulls focus late, sometimes misses, and that’s what makes it feel alive.

There’s this moment where the girl rolls down a steep hill and the whole theater laughs. I laughed too. But, living here, I understand it a little better. I’ve walked those hills. I’ve heard those laughs. That moment felt personal.

She’s a regular barrio Rimbaud. Pure instinct. Raw artist talent.

But, she also just wants to paint her nails and hang out with her friends. And, of course she does, she’s a 15-year-old girl. That tension is the soul of the film.

The contrast between her light and his heaviness gives this life. He’s trying to make up for everything he got wrong with his own daughter.

Also: everyone in Colombia seems to love Bukowski.

Except maybe his daughter.

Note: This one’s not technically a stream yet. Look for it in arthouse theaters. Otherwise, it’s coming to MUBI first.

Language: Spanish (with subs)

Runtime: 104 min

Filed under: poetic failure, teenage spark, Medellín as myth,

🛤️ Outtro

Reinvention begins not with where you land, but with what you make.

Every place is a blank page. What you write there? That’s your legacy.

If this newsletter sparked something, pass it on to a friend, a fellow explorer, or anyone rewriting their life.

This community grows through real connection. One story, one share at a time.

If you enjoyed this, share it.

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See you next week. Don’t Escape. Design.