Superreal
About the Film
A grieving man spends a weekend with a woman who eerily resembles the 20-year-old version of his recently deceased mother.
Director: Gustavo Luciano Gonzalez
Producer: Gustavo Luciano Gonzalez
United States, Puerto Rico // 2025 // Drama, Comedy// Los Shorts
23 minutes
About the Filmmaker
Gustavo Makes Movies About People Who Think Too Much
Gustavo Luciano Gonzalez is a filmmaker obsessed with the “little” things, the awkward silences that communicate so much and the existential spirals that we all often feel . Born and raised in Jersey City by way of a family fresh from Puerto Rico, Gustavo writes and directs darkly funny, deeply personal films about people at war with their own thoughts. If Eric Rohmer had come of age during the hip hop blog era, or if Noah Baumbach had been raised on pernil and plátanos, their films might resemble his.
He made his directorial debut with Millennials and Hypochondriacs, a short film that leaned into the absurdity of modern anxieties, earning a Best Short Film nomination at the Official Latino Short Film Festival, a Best Actor nod for Cristopher Luis, and a Best Local Film nomination at the Golden Door Film Festival. His follow-up, Thoreau, a film that imagined Henry David Thoreau as a black man living in 2019, won Best Editing at Golden Door and picked up nominations for Best Local Film and Best Actor (Ralf Jean Pierre).
Gustavo is currently preparing to release his third and most personal project yet, Superreal. Filmed in Woodstock, NY, Superreal is a dark comedy about a grieving man who spends a surreal weekend with the 20-year-old version of his recently deceased mother. It’s an intimate, magical, and unexpectedly funny exploration of grief, memory, and the strange ways we heal.
Gonzalez’s work blends specificity and universality, telling stories about self-doubt, ambition, coming to grips with life and its endless search for meaning. His characters might not always know what they want, but they’re trying to figure it out. He strives to tell stories that speak to the personal and the universal, inviting audiences to find pieces of themselves in every frame.
