UNDER THE SAME SUN, Ulises Porra’s Sweeping Historical Saga of Resistance and Survival, to World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2025
This Politically Charged Tale of Colonialism and Resilience in Early 19th-Century Hispaniola, Brims With Urgent Global Resonance
Director and Actors Available for In-Person and Online Interviews
Award-winning Catalan-born director Ulises Porra (Tigre, Carajita; co-directed with Silvina Schnicer) returns to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for the world premiere of his solo debut feature Under the Same Sun (Bajo el mismo sol), premiering in the Centrepiece program at the upcoming 50th edition of the festival, taking place September 4–14, 2025.
The Dominican–Spanish co-production—produced by Wooden Boat Productions, Alta Isla Films, Fasten Films, and Cobalt Films—is set on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola in 1819, shortly before the independence of the Dominican Republic. Under the Same Sun follows an inexperienced heir to a Spanish merchant, Lázaro; a master silk maker from China, Mei; and a Haitian army deserter, Baptiste, as they attempt to establish a silk factory in the heart of the island. The unlikely trio must navigate the treacherous Caribbean wilderness and the threats posed by violent French colonists.
What begins as a fragile collaboration rooted in necessity soon deepens into a fraught relationship, entangled by intimacy, mistrust, and shifting balances of power and survival. As success seems within reach, ambitions and betrayals emerge, forcing Lázaro, Mei, and Baptiste to confront not only the dangers around them but also the limits of trust and solidarity. Porra delivers a powerful meditation on hybridity, resistance, and the human longing for dignity in the shadow of empire.
Featuring Spanish actor David Castillo (Something Is About to Happen), Jean Jean (Woodpeckers), and newcomer Valentina Shen Wu, Under the Same Sun is set in a rapidly shrinking world shaped by inequality and greed, on the verge of radical change. It is at once an exploration of the complex political realities of the Caribbean colonial era that resonates with today’s global context, and a character study of desire, jealousy, and love.
Under Porra’s direction, and with the painterly cinematography of Sebastián Cabrera Chelin, the film creates a lush and unsettling vision of the colonial Caribbean. With its pictorial cinematography and unflinching gaze, Under the Same Sun is both an evocative portrait of the Caribbean during colonial rule and a powerful reflection on the fragile bonds of trust and survival, resonating urgently with today’s global struggles over inequality, migration, and power.
The world premiere of Under the Same Sun is made possible by Arajet.
TIFF Screenings:
Tuesday, September 9, 9am at the Scotiabank Theatre – P&I
Thursday, September 11, 5:15pm at the Scotiabank Theatre – World Premiere
Friday, September 12, 5pm at the Scotiabank Theatre
Sunday, September 14, 1pm at TIFF Lightbox
For more information, to request a screener, or to schedule an interview
with the director and/or actors, please contact Samuel Didonato,
Cinema Tropical at press@cinematropical.com or (212) 254-5474.
UNDER THE SAME SUN (Bajo el mismo sol). Dominican Republic/Spain, 2025, 103 min. In Spanish, Mandarin, and French with English subtitles. Director: Ulises Porra; Producers: Ulla Prida, Ulises Porra, Alexandra Santana; Co-producers: Adrià Monés Murlans, Gabriel Kaplan; Executive Producers: Ulla Prida, Alexandra Santana, Nicole Quiñones Butler, Ariadna Rodríguez, Claudia Calviño; Associate Producers: Federico Eibuszyc, Ivette Bautista, Andrés Rodríguez, José María Pimentel; Cinematographer: Sebastian Cabrera Chelin, SDC; Editors: Gina Giudicelli, Carlos Cañas Carreira, Ulises Porra; Production Designer: Mónica de Moya; Costume Designer: Natalia Aponte; Music: Josefina Barreix; Sound: Nahuel Palenque; Cast: David Castillo (Lázaro), Valentina Shen Wu (Mei), Jean Jean (Baptiste); Production Companies: Wooden Boat Productions, Alta Isla FIlms, Fasten Films, Cobalt Films.
About the Director:
Ulises Porra is a Spanish director and screenwriter from Barcelona, where he studied philosophy at the University of Barcelona. He is internationally recognized for Carajita (2021), which received a Special Jury Mention at the San Sebastián Film Festival and won Best Ibero-American Film and Best Director at FICG. His debut feature Tigre (2017) premiered simultaneously at San Sebastián and TIFF, and he has also co-written La barbarie (2023), which competed at the Málaga Film Festival, and Acusada (2018), which premiered in official competition at the Venice Film Festival. Under the Same Sun marks his third feature film and first as a solo director.