Bittersweet / Agridulce

A coming-of-age story set in the Dominican Republic, where young bachata musicians seek answers to love and life through their music.

In the Dominican town of Cabarete, bachata is a way of life, far from the nightclubs where it’s danced the world over. Filming over five years, director Frank Pavich (Jodorowsky’s Dune) intimately captures the coming-of-age of a group of child musicians, showing how music guides their journey to self-discovery. Along the way, they’re mentored by Mártires de León, guitarist for Romeo Santos and a teacher at Academia de Bachata, the world’s only school devoted to a music that has become the Dominican Republic’s greatest cultural export. Generations collide, and the kids struggle to reconcile the weight of the past with the lives they want to build.