TECHNICAL:
Working Title: No War Without Humans
Estimated Duration: 18 minutes
Genre: Drama
Country of Origin: Puerto Rico / United States
Language: English
Creative Team:
Screenwriter/Director/Producer/: Bernice González Bofill
Current Project Status: Development.
LOGLINE:
A mother's structured daily routine unravels as the horrors of war creep closer to home, forcing her to confront the terrifying reality that her orderly life and children's safety are more fragile than she wanted to believe.
SYNOPSIS:
The story follows Angela, a single mother of two children, Sam and Tim, navigating life in a city quietly unraveling under the shadow of war. By day, she writes speeches for politicians and military officials, clinging to routine in a desperate attempt to preserve a sense of normalcy. But as the outside world descends into conflict—schools empty, safety drills multiply, soldiers patrol the streets—Angela’s home becomes a pressure chamber of anxiety and illusion.
A poetic voiceover, drawn from Angela’s own inner monologue, threads through the narrative—meditating on time, memory, and the absurdities of survival. Television news seeps into every corner of the apartment, blurring the boundary between reality and nightmare. As the violence outside intensifies, Angela’s grip on the everyday frays, culminating in a surreal collapse where she frantically searches for her children within a disintegrating home.
In the final moments, silence replaces chaos. The apartment is empty. Nature begins to reclaim the city. Whether Angela’s children are gone, or the war has finally invaded her mind, remains ambiguous—but what lingers is a haunting meditation on grief, humanity, and the cost of looking away.
DIRECTORS STATEMENT
I created No War Without Humans to confront the quiet violence of normalization—how we continue our daily routines while war, displacement, and collective suffering unfold just beyond the walls of our homes.
Monica Trixel’s poem ONE serves not just as inspiration, but as the inner voice of Angela, the film’s protagonist. Her internal monologue—composed of poetic fragments, logical phrases, and surreal reflections—is a private protest, a poetic consciousness unraveling beneath the surface of motherhood, labor, and survival. Through her voice, the film becomes a meditation on how violence enters the home not only through bombs, but through language, screens, silence.
As a Puerto Rican woman raised in a colonized country, I’ve learned to read the space between words, to carry contradictions. Angela, the protagonist, mirrors this—she writes pro-war speeches while raising her children in a world slowly unraveling.
My work often explores the emotional residue of systems—how power, fear, and policy seep into the domestic and intimate. I’m drawn to surrealism not as escape, but as emotional truth. In this film, I use rhythm, metaphor, and poetic logic to expose what we’ve repressed.
No War Without Humans is a quiet scream. An invocation. A way to feel what we’ve numbed ourselves to.
HONORS, LABS, GRANTS, AND RECOGNITIONS
ScreenCraft Short Film Competition 2025 — Quarterfinalist
Austin Film Festival 2024 — Second Rounder