Summer of Three reaches the closing stretch of the AFI Latin American Film Festival with an unusually expansive job description for its lead actor. Marcel Ruiz stars, co-writes and produces the Puerto Rican feature, directed by his father, Carlitos Ruiz-Ruiz. AFI Silver’s program lists an October 5 screening in Silver Spring, Maryland, following its October 3 presentation. The film arrives with recognition for both its performers and its writing.
The Tribeca credits identify a collaboration broader than a father-and-son project: Mariana S. Belaval shares the screenplay credit, and Krizia Belén-Monserrate joins the producing team. Paolo Schoene and Kiki Montilla play the other two members of the central trio. Tribeca’s June 12 awards announcement recognized Ruiz, Schoene and Montilla together for Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature. AFI also records the film’s screenplay award at the festival.
In a June interview with Dailybloid’s Cristiano Capotosti, Carlitos Ruiz-Ruiz described the screenplay’s beginnings as an exchange of memories with his son. They wanted a project they could make together and began comparing their experiences of growing up during Puerto Rican summers. The director said the result incorporates personal material while remaining fiction. Two generations were contributing recollections to the same young protagonist, rather than reproducing a single person’s adolescence.
The published premise follows Javi, a 17-year-old returning to Puerto Rico for his grandfather’s funeral after years away. Meeting Luife and Kiki changes the direction of the visit and introduces an unsettled triangle of attraction and friendship. Returning to a birthplace, in that setup, offers no instant recovery of intimacy. Family obligations bring Javi back; the people he meets give the trip possibilities his relatives could not arrange.
Ruiz-Ruiz told Dailybloid that building the trio’s connection involved improvisation exercises using tools he learned during his time at The Groundlings in Los Angeles. The actors also spent time together for months before filming. His account makes rehearsal and informal familiarity part of the production story. The ensemble award adds a separate, documented point of recognition, without requiring readers to accept a publicity claim about how the performances will affect them.
The credits offer a useful way into this release: follow the labor as well as the lead. An actor’s move into writing and producing can be measured here in named collaborators, a completed feature and festival recognition. For viewers meeting Ruiz through this film, the Puerto Rican summer is also the setting for a creative partnership across generations. AFI’s listing provides a specific opportunity to see the result; it does not establish a nationwide theatrical or streaming release.