Screening: "FROM VIOLENCE TO VIRTUE: Colombia's Path to Peace"

Monica Cohen

Monica Cohen is a Colombian filmmaker whose documentaries explore art, culture, and social transformation through intimate human stories. She founded The Boom House, a Boston-based production company specializing in cinematic documentary storytelling that bridges cultural divides and amplifies marginalized voices.

Cohen's work has screened at prestigious festivals including Sundance, CPH:DOX, and FICCI. She was named a 2023 Brother Thomas Fellow in recognition of her artistic vision and community impact. Her feature documentary DREAMS OF CHONTA (2020) won Best Documentary at multiple festivals including United Latino Film Festival, while MY NAME IS PEDRO (2017), which she co-produced, earned the Audience Award at Brooklyn Film Festival and Best Documentary at Golden Door International Film Festival.

As co-director of CONNECTIONS: NO ONE IS AN ISLAND (2021), a groundbreaking global multimedia project that debuted at CPH:DOX, Cohen pushed the boundaries of documentary form to capture shared human experiences during the pandemic. Her recent work includes NEGRURA (2022), an experimental exploration of Afro-Latinx identity, and MORE THAN MAS' (2022), chronicling Boston's Caribbean Carnival.

Since moving to the U.S. in 2010, Cohen has worked as director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and occasionally sound mixer and composer. Her New York experience includes film distribution with dGenerate Films and production roles with Cine Institute, Crowing Roosters, Stick Figures, and Big Fish Entertainment. In Boston, where she lives with her 2 kids and her husband, she directed BOSTON'S LATIN QUARTER (2018), examining the preservation of cultural enclaves in rapidly changing cities.

Cohen has taught Documentary Filmmaking and Video Production at UMass Boston and Boston University, mentoring the next generation of storytellers committed to centering culture and art in conversations about social change.

She is currently directing LAURA'S HOLLAND, an intimate documentary following Spanish flamenco dancer Laura as she navigates motherhood, caregiving, and artistic survival after her daughter Sol suffered a severe brain injury at birth. The film explores the profound beauty and impossible contradictions of motherhood—a personal act of resistance amplifying the struggles of caregivers demanding a world where caregiving is valued.

María Alejandra Gutiérrez Torres

María Alejandra Gutiérrez Torres, MD, MA, is a Colombian physician, peacebuilding scholar, and PhD student at the Boston College School of Social Work. Her research sits at the intersection of public health, mental health, forced migration, and peacebuilding, with a particular focus on children, adolescents, and families affected by armed conflict and displacement. Her work examines how adversity becomes biologically and socially embedded across generations, and how culturally grounded psychosocial interventions can be adapted, implemented, and scaled in fragile settings. She is currently involved in research on war-affected youth, migrant families, and mental health equity across Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. She has worked with institutions including Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, the World Health Organization, and the Pan American Health Organization. Her long-term goal is to generate actionable evidence that strengthens systems of care and helps conflict-affected children build healthier futures.