“I grew up around so many charismatic people”: Joel Alfonso Vargas on Mad Bills to Pay at Berlin Film Festival 2025
In Mad Bills to Pay, writer-director Joel Alfonso Vargas captures the vibrant yet raw energy of the Bronx, bringing to life the essence of a tight-knit Dominican-American community. Shot in just 16 days on a tight budget, the film follows 19-year-old Rico (Juan Collado), who spends his summer by the beach, selling bootleg nutcracker cocktails, chasing girls, and enjoying the simplicity of youth. However, his carefree life is upended when he is thrust into fatherhood and his girlfriend, Destiny (Destiny Checo), moves in with him and his family. Their small apartment becomes the backdrop for a messy, complicated love story. Through gritty realism and sharp humour, Vargas delivers a poignant portrait of youthful abandon, urban life, and the inevitable reckoning that comes with growing up too fast.
Ahead of the film’s screening at the Berlin International Film Festival, Vargas sat down with The Upcoming to discuss the significance of Rico’s unusual summertime gig and its personal resonance with his own teenage years in the Bronx. He also reflects on how the film serves as a love letter to New York’s hustle culture and how his background in docufiction, family life, and childhood friends with big personalities shaped both Rico’s character and his journey.
Christina Yang
Mad Bills to Pay does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.
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