LAURA'S HOLLAND
- Directed by: Monica Cohen
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- Location:
- Updated: October 2, 2026
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Logline
At the height of her career, a Spanish flamenco dancer and mother living in America faces the unimaginable, and as her world collapses, she turns to her art to survive.
Clips
Team
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Monica Cohen
Director
Team
Monica Cohen
Director
Monica Cohen is a Colombian filmmaker whose documentaries explore art, culture, and social transformation through intimate human stories. She founded The Boom House, a Boston-based production company specializing in cinematic documentary storytelling that bridges cultural divides and amplifies marginalized voices. Cohen's work has screened at prestigious festivals including Sundance, CPH:DOX, and FICCI. She was named a 2023 Brother Thomas Fellow in recognition of her artistic vision and community impact. Her feature documentary DREAMS OF CHONTA (2020) won Best Documentary at multiple festivals including United Latino Film Festival, while MY NAME IS PEDRO (2017), which she co-produced, earned the Audience Award at Brooklyn Film Festival and Best Documentary at Golden Door International Film Festival. As co-director of CONNECTIONS: NO ONE IS AN ISLAND (2021), a groundbreaking global multimedia project that debuted at CPH:DOX, Cohen pushed the boundaries of documentary form to capture shared human experiences during the pandemic. Her recent work includes NEGRURA (2022), an experimental exploration of Afro-Latinx identity, MORE THAN MAS' (2022), chronicling Boston's Caribbean Carnival, and FROM VIOLENCE TO VIRTUE: COLOMBIA'S PATH TO PEACE (2026), that traces her home country's journey out of more than fifty years of armed conflict, from the Havana negotiations with the FARC through the aftermath of the peace accord. Since moving to the U.S. in 2010, Cohen has worked as director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and occasionally sound mixer and composer. Her New York experience includes film distribution with dGenerate Films and production roles with Cine Institute, Crowing Roosters, Stick Figures, and Big Fish Entertainment. In Boston, where she lives with her 2 kids and her husband, she directed BOSTON'S LATIN QUARTER (2018), examining the preservation of cultural enclaves in rapidly changing cities. Cohen has taught Documentary Filmmaking and Video Production at UMass Boston and Boston University, mentoring the next generation of storytellers committed to centering culture and art in conversations about social change. She is currently directing LAURA'S HOLLAND, an intimate documentary following Spanish flamenco dancer Laura as she navigates motherhood, caregiving, and artistic survival after her daughter Sol suffered a severe brain injury at birth. The film explores the profound beauty and impossible contradictions of motherhood—a personal act of resistance amplifying the struggles of caregivers demanding a world where caregiving is valued.
Stills
Participants
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Laura Sanchez
Main participant and creative producer
Participant
Laura Sanchez
Main participant and creative producer
Laura is a multidisciplinary artist, flamenco dancer, choreographer, author, and creator of the Tulip Skin universe — a trilogy of works that integrates the award-winning short film and immersive performance After Dark, the multidisciplinary performance Welcome to Holland!?, and the illustrated memoir Tulip Skin (2025).Supported by institutions such as The Boston Foundation and published in the American Journal of Dance Therapy, Laura has developed Expressive Flamenco®, her signature artistic-therapeutic methodology that integrates movement, voice, and emotion into healing-centered storytelling. -
Laura's children Hugo and Sol
Participant
Laura's children Hugo and Sol
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Borja
Laura's husband
Participant
Borja
Laura's husband
Our Ask
LAURA'S HOLLAND is a feature documentary about Laura Sánchez, a Spanish flamenco dancer and multidisciplinary artist. Her daughter suffered a catastrophic brain injury at birth, and Laura turned to her art to survive. The film follows her through the isolation of caregiving far from home, the strain on her marriage, her family's return to Spain, and the release of her memoir Piel de Tulipán. Along the way, she transforms her pain into performances that advocate for caregivers and disability rights.
After four years of filming in Boston and Madrid, we are entering the final stretch of production and moving into post-production. We are looking for a co-production partner to help us get there.
After four years of filming in Boston and Madrid, we are entering the final stretch of production and moving into post-production. We are looking for a co-production partner to help us get there.
We are especially hoping to find a woman producer, ideally a mother, who connects personally with this story. We want someone fierce and well connected, who believes caregiving and disability deserve a central place on screen. We bring deep access, a strong body of footage, a committed accessibility team, and fiscal sponsorship through the Center for Independent Documentary. We're looking for a partner who can strengthen our financing strategy, open doors to funders, broadcasters, and co-production markets, and help shape the film through post and into release.
If this story speaks to you, we would love to talk.
We are seeking:
- Funding,
- Co-Production Partners,
- International Co-Production
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