A new documentary feature film, Eddie Palmieri: Sweet Sweet Sugar, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Omar Acosta, is currently in production. The film focuses on the life and legacy of Grammy-winning pianist, composer, and bandleader Eddie Palmieri, who revolutionized salsa and Latin jazz and shaped the genre as we know it. Set against the backdrop of Spanish Harlem and the Bronx from the 1950s to the 1980s, the film explores how Palmieri used his music to amplify the voices of Puerto Ricans while shaping Latin music’s global influence today.
“Puerto Ricans came to New York with rhythm, passion, and very little else. We didn’t melt into the pot. We reshaped it. Eddie Palmieri is the proof,” said director Acosta in a press release. “Born in the crucible of Spanish Harlem, his music captures the moment Puerto Rico collided with New York and invented something new, something permanent. Eddie speaks for the Puerto Rican diaspora, a people whose fight for dignity and opportunity transformed not only themselves, but American culture and the world beyond it.”
Produced by David Kennedy and Nick Quested of Goldcrest Films in co-production with Uprising Music NYC and in cooperation with the Eddie Palmieri estate, the film has full access to Palmieri’s music catalog and never-before-seen archival footage.
By Isabela Raygoza
