“Debi Tirar Mas Fotos,” translated as “I Should Have Taken More Pictures,” is a 13-minute short film directed and written by Baditio A. Martinez Ocasia, aka Bad Bunny, and Ari Maniel Cruz Suarez. It features actor Jacobo Morales as an elderly man and the Bad Bunny mascot Concho, a Puerto Rican toad called Sapo Concho, as his loyal friend. It was released on Jan. 5, 2025 on the Bad Bunny YouTube channel, which primarily posts music and music videos that blend contemporary pop with music from Ocasia and Suarez’s home country, Puerto Rico. The short film was made in conjunction with the release of the album of the same name, using the house from the film’s setting as its cover.
“Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” is a slow-paced film about the culture of Puerto Rico fading over time due to globalization. The only traces of Puerto Rican culture left exist in pictures taken by those who were born and raised there. The older man shares his memories with his little toad friend, drawing them from an old tin box or his own memory. The neighbors he knew have become strangers; new people now own the old stores he visits. When he tries to order food native to his home called “Papa Cheese,” the cashier can’t understand what he means, but the native man who stands working at the grill does. Noises that the older man hears do not resemble the sounds he heard in his youth, which have become rare as he ages and more new faces come to Puerto Rico. Though most of Puerto Rico is not the same as it was in the pictures the man took, he still wants to make memories with his friends in the land he loves the most. Just as the Puerto Rican delicacy quesito — a dish that mainly includes bread and cheese — often offers a cheese-less option, a Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans loses the core of its existence and what it is known for.
The staff responsible for creating the film originated from Puerto Rico. They wanted to pay tribute to the disappearing culture of their home while incorporating an aspect of modernity through sights of Puerto Rican towns and casual dialogue. The toad that starred in this short movie adds to the theme of the culture fading, as it is now an endangered Puerto Rican species due to overfishing from the United States.
The movie is free to watch on YouTube on the official Bad Bunny YouTube channel only, along with the latest album of the same name. Take in the sounds while you still can.
