A Nuyorican coming-of-age story set in 1980s Brownsville, Brooklyn, this new film follows Elaine, a girl on the cusp of becoming a teenager, as she navigates the challenges of a chaotic family and a tough and unpredictable neighborhood. "Brownsville Bred" was the only U.S. Latina-directed live-action narrative to earn Oscar eligibility in 2025.

Elaine Del Valle, multifaceted writer and filmmaker, transmutes her Brooklyn Puerto Rican girlhood into an astonishing variety of works of art: a one-woman show, award-winning short, TV show, YA novel, and now a feature film. “From Girlhood Trials to Onstage Triumph” proclaimed the New York Times in its 2010 review of her same-titled play. The YA novel, Brownsville Bred, was a finalist for Publishers Weekly’s 2020 BookLife Prize.

​Cosponsored by the University at Albany’s Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month.