From the moment our eyes lock on Claudia (Aroha Hafez), we are drawn to her. This never changes over the course of writer/director Alvaro D. Ruiz's 17-minute dramatic short Bajo la arena (Under the Sand), a tender and beautifully rendered film based on Carlos Franco's National Literature Award-winning short story Much to be Done. 

We first meet Claudia, a Spanish woman living in Colombia's coastal city of Santa Marta. Everything in these opening moments draws us to Claudia, from Julian Grijalba's immersive and telling production design to Alejandro Ardila's gently observational lensing to, of course, Hafez herself as this woman who feels like who would wrap you in a hug alongside the beach. As the story begins to unfold, we then meet Ramona (Obeida Benavides), a local who occasionally works for Claudia and whose feelings are more vibrant than Claudia's and yet both women share a remarkable vulnerability and intensity. 

There is a loss that deeply impacts both women, their loneliness amplified by this unexpected tragedy that impacts both women differently yet similarly in terms of tone and expression. For Claudia, we begin to get a glimpse inside her Colombian existence amidst feelings from which she cannot escape. Ramona's experience seems different yet palpable in the way it's expressed. 

Truthfully, I marveled at Ruiz's ability to tell such a complete story that feels perfectly paced over the course of a slight 17-minute running time. Every little moment feels honest here, so much so that even a nameless young man's assistance alongside Claudia before Ramona arrives was so stunning that it nearly brought me to tears. 

These emotions swirl and sizzle, regress and nearly explode at times. Camilo Sanabria's original score serves as a sublime emotional companion to Ruiz's storytelling and we're left with a story that may not feel as if it's traveled very far by film's end yet somehow also feels rich and meaningful from beginning to end. 

Bajo la arena is already proving to be quite successful on the indie fest circuit and seems destined to continue throughout 2025. It's a film that lingers in one's psyche and in one's heart and it features a perfectly complementary duo in Hafez and the wonderful Benavides. If you get a chance, you'll most definitely want to check it out. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic