Beneath the Cicadas' Song

In a tight-knit and vibrant community facing displacement four teenagers come of age and learn to survive.Gabriela a whimsical and imaginative young girl who cannot speak depends on her mother and community leader Jimena to stand up to the forces behind the plans for destruction. Seizing an opportunity Armon a young man caught up in a gang grapples with his past and identity as he decides whether to break the cycle of crime. Teenage girls Olga and Cristina are disappointed and angry at their own parents for folding beneath the pressure. They wonder about their futures while daily challenges create other plans for them. As bulldozers arrive the threads of their lives are woven together revealing the brutal choices they all must make.Beneath the Cicadas Song was inspired by 600 hours of in-depth observation and first-person interviews with 50 people in two settlements in Costa Rica as well as research on the social and political dynamics in Honduras El Salvador Guatemala and Nicaragua. This story emphasizes the complexity and urgency of tackling inequality as climate change conflict and COVID-19 loom large.