A curious trans mermaid defies her mother’s warnings to venture up to the surface, only to discover the world above is not what she dreamt. Las Cosas Que Brillan explores the impacts of environmental destruction, and the danger of being desired in a postcolonial world.

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Kristal Sotomayor is an award-winning nonbinary Peruvian American filmmaker, journalist, and curator based in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. They are a 2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader Honoree and were named one of HipLatina's "10 Latinx Filmmakers You Should Know About." Their short documentary Expanding Sanctuary won three awards, including the Philadelphia Filmmaker Award at the 2024 BlackStar Film Festival, and is distributed by OTV, Kanopy, and New Day Films. Their short documentary Don't Cry For Me All You Drag Queens won three awards, including Best LGBTQ Documentary at the 2025 Poppy Jasper International Film Festival. Their debut narrative short, Las Cosas Que Brillan, a coming-of-age story about a Trans Latina mermaid, is nominated for a 2026 Imagen Award.

Kristal is currently developing their debut feature documentary, Untitled PARS Project, about the surveillance of immigrant communities with support from the Sundance Institute, while also producing their first audio documentary on water rights in Pennsylvania with support from Voice of Witness. Their work has been supported by Outfest, Firelight Media, the Ford Foundation, If/Then, Points North Institute, MDOCS, DCTV, and NeXtDoc. In addition to their creative practice, Kristal previously served as Awards Competition Manager for the IDA Documentary Awards and has curated acclaimed programs for SFFILM, Frameline, True/False Film Fest, and the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival. Their writing has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Documentary Magazine, Autostraddle, AL DÍA, and WHYY.