Interview Velvet Zoé Ramos: ‘Entering the film industry makes me want to rebel against everything’

In Velvet Zoé Ramo’s Studio Caribe film Adrift Wak Leu, we meet a girl who experiences a strange daydream. As she comes to terms with the voices in her head, she becomes the land – or does the land become her? Following the selection for the Curaçao Film Festival, we sat down with filmmaker Velvet Zoé Ramos about turning Aruba into an otherworldly place, a different kind of storytelling and adaptation.

Can you briefly tell us what your film is about and what the title means?

‘Adrift is my interpretation of what we here call Lepia, or Lepiando, or daydreaming. I’ve been encouraged and discouraged to daydream since I was young, and many of my otherwordly inspiration comes from it. Wak Leu is also an interpration of the same concept, but more in the sense of staring off into the distance while daydreaming.

In the film we meet a girl who experiences a surreal daydream, filled with voices and strange horrors. Daydreaming can be confronting, but it also teaches us how we process our darkness. It replays wisdom from our pasts or family conflicts we don’t fully understand. It’s a way of making sense of things. And in doing so, Wak Leu reconnects with her own voice and with the land.

The film started as a poetic documentary, but I turned it into an experimental film instead. It’s non-narrative and uses symbolism to build its storylines. Wak Leu is both a character and a representation of the land. She - or it - is not a person, but the land itself, which encounters – or rather argues with - the ocean: who eats whom? Later, Wak Leu – the land - meets a seed. For me, the seed symbolizes a new promise or sacrifice, since a seed must sacrifice itself to grow. In that sense, the film can also be seen as a coming-of-age story.’

"In Aruba and the Caribbean, stories are often shaped through other structures – less linear, more relational, and open-ended. That’s what I tried to explore in this film."

- Velvet Zoé Ramos

With ‘the land’, do you specifically mean the island of Aruba, or could it be anywhere?

‘The nature of Aruba is quite dramatic. We have evidence from the first time the island was born from the ocean. From lava. And I was really keen on working with that landscape, but making it seem, as Rebecca (Roos, producer) calls it, apocalyptic. An otherworldy strange place without clear form. One way I approached this was by never showing the horizon. I didn’t want the viewer to know exactly where we were. When filming in the water, you can’t tell where you are; the same goes for the rocks or the desert. I’ve completely enclosed the frame. Aruba has a landscape that we don't always fully appreciate. And I wanted to highlight that, the rough ocean and the rocks.’

Who did you have in mind as your audience?

‘When I first pitched it, I specifically had creative people in mind, those who would immediately understand the symbolism. But after discussing the synopsis with the other Studio Caribe participants, I realized there's a curiosity regardless of whether people fully grasp that symbolism. So, that was exciting. I am a Disney child, by the way, so I do appreciate clear storylines. But I also want people to look at the different layers of a story. And I’m really convinced audiences are capable of that.’

How do you see yourself as a filmmaker within the current landscape of emerging filmmakers and artists from the Caribbean?

‘It's very new to me. I'm a visual artist and entering the film industry makes me want to rebel against everything. When you participate in workshops, you learn there’s certain rules for storytelling. I’d rather encourage people to question everything they do and make, and you can’t always do that in film because people need to understand the storyline before they invest in you as a filmmaker. I don't think we need to follow Eurocentric ideas of storytelling. In Aruba and the Caribbean, stories are often shaped through other structures – less linear, more relational, and open-ended. That’s what I tried to explore in this film. Not just with the writing, but also the way I work. For example, I didn’t start with a traditional synopsis – I had a visual pitch. I made storyboards first, re-evaluated that into writing and then back into new storyboards. We have this complex about telling stories, about what’s the correct way and what isn’t. I think it’s more about bringing different ways of storytelling together. Merging them. But maybe that’s just my opinion.’

"I am a Disney child, by the way, so I do appreciate clear storylines. But I also want people to look at the different layers of a story."

- Velvet Zoé Ramos

Cast & crew photo of Adrift Wak Leu, with Velvet (fifth from right) and Rebecca (the far left)

How did you experience this while doing the Studio Caribe program?

‘Well, it's a funny story. Unlike the other participants, I didn’t have a clear plot or antagonist, and sometimes that made it difficult to explain the project. They would ask me: who is the protagonist? Is it this person, or is it the rock? And I would say: I don’t know yet. I don’t know how it will be, because the landscape on Aruba changes every time. So even if I pitched it with one visual, it could be completely different when we were on set. The sea reacted differently. The wind reacted differently. We had to adapt.

And of course I made it extra challenging because I refused to fully define or explain everything. That’s part of my practice, my art. I don’t want to be fully understood. But still, in film, you need a certain level of clarity, because you have a team to work with on set. You’re working with feedback. Ultimately, you want audiences in different places to engage with your work. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is: I learned a lot. Sometimes it’s actually okay to define things more clearly.

Luckily, the coaches trusted that I knew what experimenting was and they let me go on with it. The other thing they definitely taught me was that I can’t do everything on my own. Because I did the writing, storyboarding, the directing, and also wanted to do the costume design and art direction. But “You can’t do everything, Velvet, you need to focus on directing”, haha! In the end I did not have a huge team, but still quite a lot of people around me that I had to manage and direct for the first time. I’m not sure if I did a good job, but it was really like: hey, I am learning here now with you guys.’

What are your next steps after this film?

‘In Wak Leu there is so much to see that you don’t need dialogue. I prefer non-real things, so the next thing is probably going to be a short fiction, because I can’t stand an hour of talking either, haha. I am developing an experimental film that focuses on dialogue, but not in a traditional storytelling way. It doesn’t follow a clear narrative with a beginning and end. Instead, the film unfolds through fragments – voice, sound, image and moments – where meaning builds gradually through the interaction between them. And I have friends who are applying for the next round of Studio Caribe, so I will probably help them with their films. That way I’ll keep learning from their process as well.’

Studio Caribe

The second round of Studio Caribe is now open. Applicants from the ABCSSS islands as well as Suriname can submit their applications to the Film Fund until Tuesday, May 5, 2026.