Director Kacho López Mari’s critically and culturally acclaimed portfolio consists of over 40 music movies and quick movies that, if performed at a YouTube watch occasion, may go away you and your primos feeling as when you simply flip-booked by trendy Latin music historical past.
A number of the music movies have captured the trophies of genres, like Tego Calderón’s “Abayarde” and Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina,” each necessities on any reggaetón playlist. Different visuals have been works of activism — like Unhealthy Bunny’s “El Apagón — Aquí Vive Gente,” the 22-minute music video and investigative quick that make clear the financial disaster that Puerto Ricans continued to face after Hurricane Maria.
A music video has the ability to seize at present’s tradition, tomorrow’s stars, and yesterday’s immediacy. And due to López Mari’s legendary lens, we’re in a position to behold many iconic Latin music moments. Listed below are 15 of his must-see movies.
These interviews have been edited and condensed for readability.
Tego Calderón, “Abayarde / Gracias” (2003)
Filmed in Manatí, Puerto Rico
Earlier than producing and directing music movies, López Mari produced “underground” events in Puerto Rico — and commercials at Paradiso Movies.
That modified when López Mari’s superior, Sigfredo “Freddy” Bellaflores, heard his younger son, Sigfredo Jr. — who would go on to provide movies for Unhealthy Bunny — listening to Tego Calderón’s music within the bathe. The following day, Freddy got here into the workplace and threw the Calderón CD at López Mari.
“ ‘If you can reach that guy, we’ll do a video for him for free,’ ” López Mari recalled Freddy telling him. “ And I’m like, OK, I’ll get that guy.”
Just a few days later, López Mari used his party-producing connections to arrange a gathering with Calderón’s workforce, which instructed López Mari he may choose the track off Calderón’s debut album, since Paradiso Movies was financing the video; the workforce then requested him to meld one other track, “Gracias,” into the visible.
“ That’s why the video is a six-minute piece,” stated López Mari. “Back in the day, the reggaetón videos would be two or three songs in each video.”
The younger director scouted the situation, created the storyline to attach the 2 songs and introduced the therapy to Calderón. Quickly afterward, López Mari shot his first music video.
“It was a big phenomenon,” he stated. “When that came out, Tego was like a rocket going up to the moon.”
Ricky Martin, “Tal Vez” (2003)
Filmed in Buenos Aires
López Mari co-directed this video with Carlos Pérez, his childhood good friend who would later direct the video for Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito.” Each 20-somethings on the time, López Mari and Pérez, recruited a “dream team” to execute it — together with Andrzej Sekula, cinematographer for “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs,” in addition to Brigitte Broch, Oscar-winning manufacturing designer and artwork director for “Amores Perros” and “Romeo + Juliet.” The editor was Jeff Selis, essentially the most nominated editor within the historical past of the MTV Video Music Awards.
Ricky Martin wanted ample star energy for what could be his first Spanish launch since “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” Martin favored López Mari’s therapy a lot that he would fee the identical crew to make the video for 2003’s “Jaleo.”
Daddy Yankee, “Gasolina” (2005)
Filmed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Launched pre-YouTube, the unique video for “Gasolina,” the lead single off Daddy Yankee’s 2004 album “Barrio Fino,” maximized MTV’s four-minute allotment by mixing in two extra songs into the identical visible: “No Me Dejes Solo” (which featured Wisin y Yandel) and “King Daddy.”
But when the track blew up, Daddy Yankee wanted an extended video — and quick. Nevertheless creatively edited, the visible truly loops the minute-and-a-half of fabric initially shot, making it a controversial piece for the co-directors.
In a cellphone interview, Pérez stated that he values the track’s cultural and historic impression, however the video “never felt reflective of our work.” López Mari agreed it wasn’t his most interesting piece, nevertheless it did introduce the world to reggaetón and helped set up an aesthetic for the style.
Calle 13, “Adentro” (2014)
Filmed in Arizona and Puerto Rico (Barriada Morales in Caguas and Cantera Roca Dura in Manatí)
From Calle 13’s last album, the video for “Adentro” earned López Mari a Latin Grammy nomination for greatest quick type music video. In it, frontman René Pérez Joglar, or Residente, raps regretfully about shopping for a Maserati as baseball legend Willie Mays arms him a bat, which he then makes use of to smash the automobile. It’s later pushed off a cliff.
“For me, it’s a work of art,” stated López Mari. “It’s basically a piece to destroy a half-million-dollar car — that [Residente] bought as an anti-capitalist statement.”
Calle 13, “Multi_Viral” that includes Julian Assange, Kamilya Jubran, Tom Morello (2014)
Filmed within the West Financial institution
Artwork is a weapon for López Mari and Calle 13, who sympathized with the Palestinian battle. López Mari instructed me he thought of the “Multi_Viral” video, which was filmed within the West Financial institution in 2013, was “one of the most important projects” he’s ever labored on.
The video follows Palestinian kids as they construct a guitar from elements of a gun. Rage Towards the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who’s featured on the track, joined them onset within the West Financial institution. López Mari’s brother, Santiago “Chago” Benet Mari, who served as deputy photographer, instructed me how filmmaking has taken him and his household locations he would have probably by no means in any other case visited.
“Film is a universal language,” stated Benet Mari.
Calle 13, “Ojos Color Sol” that includes Silvio Rodríguez (2014)
Filmed in Buenos Aires
“Ojos Color Sol” was filmed the identical day because the memorable 2014 World Cup semifinal match during which Germany thrashed Brazil, 7-1, so focus ranges onset have been “fragile” amongst die-hard soccer followers that day, López Mari recalled.
Nonetheless, López Mari’s video would go on to win him his first Latin Grammy for greatest quick type music video, alongside Tristana Robles, López Mari’s life accomplice, in addition to the producer and co-founder of Filmes Zapatero. The track featured Cuban musical legend Silvio Rodríguez, and the video starred Golden Globe Award-winning Mexican actor Gael García Bernal and Spanish actress María Valverde, who share a strong kiss.
Juanes, “Loco de Amor (La Historia)” (2014)
Filmed in Puerto Rico (San Juan, Río Piedras, Bayamón)
The sixteenth annual Latin Grammy Awards have been historic. After “Ojos de Sol” received greatest quick type music video, “Loco de Amor (La Historia)” received greatest lengthy type music video — a 16-minute undertaking visualizing 4 of Colombian celebrity Juanes’ songs. This made López Mari the winner of each classes in the identical night time — a feat by no means completed earlier than or repeated since.
“I like the aesthetics of [López Mari]’s work and his way of working,” Juanes instructed the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2014.
Calle 13, “La Vida (Respira el Momento)” (2015)
Filmed in Salinas, Puerto Rico
“La Vida (Respira el Momento)” was the ultimate video López Mari launched with Calle 13 earlier than they disbanded. It featured López Mari’s daughter and nephew, Residente’s nephew, in addition to professional boxer Miguel Cotto and MLB participant Ángel Pagán. However there’s a fair buzzier one that makes an look on this video — filmmaker, actor and poet Jacobo Morales, the director behind the 1989 movie “Lo Que le Pasó a Santiago,” the one Puerto Rican movie to earn an Oscar nomination to this point.
Morales sits down in the course of a highway to look by a handful of images, reflecting on his life’s most treasured moments — inadvertently foreshadowing his later position in movies from Unhealthy Bunny’s 2025 album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” similar to “Baile Inolvidable,” which have been additionally directed by López Mari.
Juanes, “Mis Planes Son Amarte” (2017)
Filmed in Mexico (Veracruz, Mexico Metropolis and its outskirts) and Medellín, Colombia
“Mis Planes Son Amarte” immediately interprets to “My Plans Are to Love You.” A play on phrases in Spanish, it is also heard as “My Plans Are to Mars.” Utilizing that double that means, Juanes and López Mari innovated what’s thought of to be Latin music’s first main visible album (each track has a video): a one-hour movie of 12 songs that follows Juanes’ character as an archaeologist and astronaut, exploring the size of life and love.
Chayanne, “Di Qué Sientes Tú” (2018)
Filmed in Mexico Metropolis
In 2018, López Mari added the actor and pop balladeer Chayanne to his roster of Puerto Rican icons he’s collaborated with. For the making of Chayanne’s music video for “Di Que Sientes Tú” (Say What You Really feel), López Mari took the crew to Mexico Metropolis.
“It came at a time when I was falling in love with books again,” stated López Mari. “I was surrounded by literature [by Gabriel García Márquez], [Jorge Luis] Borges, Luis Rafael Sánchez — and that literary energy made its way into the set. It all came together in a way that was beautiful and poetic.”
Unhealthy Bunny, “Callaíta” (2019)
Filmed in Puerto Rico (Arecibo, Hato Rey neighborhood of San Juan, Guaynabo)
Within the first of many collaborations between Unhealthy Bunny and López Mari, they created a “dream-like atmosphere” of summertime in Puerto Rico. In a 2023 video interview with Self-importance Truthful, Unhealthy Bunny stated it efficiently conveyed the sensation of a “hug.” Unhealthy Bunny additionally stated he knew the actress, Natalia L. Garcia, was the fitting lady for the undertaking as quickly as he noticed her.
López Mari found Garcia on Instagram. “I [loved] her look,” he stated. “She reminded me of Uma Thurman in ‘Pulp Fiction’ because of the haircut.”
López Mari’s brother Benet Mari, served because the director of images — and occurred to have the sources to get a carousel on the seashore. “Everything was perfect,” stated López Mari, calling it a “beautifully executed video” that hit all of the notes and objectives of marrying picture and track.
Don Omar, Residente, “Flow HP” (2021)
Filmed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles
Within the video for his or her first-time collaboration, “Flow HP,” Don Omar and Residente, each Puerto Rican trade veterans, amplify their satisfaction for the motherland by rapping in entrance of the island’s flag, leading to an unforgettably highly effective visible. López Mari and Residente truly directed the video collectively.
Unhealthy Bunny, “El Apagón — Aquí Vive Gente” (2022)
Filmed in Puerto Rico (San Juan, Güajataca, Rincón)
“[Taylor Swift] fills it [her videos] with Easter eggs,” stated López Mari. “So, what does Benito do? He fills it with Puerto Rican history.”
In practically six months, López Mari and his workforce labored to provide what started as a Unhealthy Bunny video and expanded right into a hard-hitting documentary. In collaboration with Puerto Rican investigative journalist Bianca Graulau, the quick movie make clear the recurring blackouts in Puerto Rico after 2017’s Hurricane Maria and the way the federal government’s lackluster restoration efforts exacerbated the better infrastructural disaster — all of which they strongly take into account to be byproducts of U.S. colonialism.
(Enjoyable reality: This video additionally featured clips from López Mari’s directorial debut with Calderón.)
Juanes, “Canción Desaparecida” that includes Mabiland (official video) (2023)
Filmed in Medellín, Colombia, and rural outskirts
On this video, Juanes and singer-MC Mabiland bring to mind greater than 121,000 folks forcibly disappeared between 1985 and 2016 of their native Colombia. After lengthy shying away from political and social content material that coloured his first album, Juanes knew he needed to make an impactful video with López Mari, who felt linked to the story due to his personal political inheritance.
Unhealthy Bunny, “Baile Inolvidable” (2025)
FILMING LOCATION: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Usually, López Mari listens to a track a number of occasions earlier than he writes a therapy for the route of a music video. But for “Baile Inolvidable,” he solely bought to hearken to it as soon as. He occurred to be within the room when Unhealthy Bunny introduced the album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” to Apple Music executives and his crew for the primary time.
López Mari says he met with Unhealthy Bunny weeks later, within the Río Piedras music studio the place the artist had recorded the track. There, López Mari introduced his storyboard drawings and placement concepts for the video and listened to the track “like 20 times,” he stated.
López Mari shot the dance class portion on the Arthur Murray Dance Studios, a well-known college for traditional salsa in San Juan. The reside efficiency portion of the video was filmed on the College of Puerto Rico’s auditorium, the place Robles and López Mari had not too long ago artistic directed a Live performance for Vitality Independence for Casa Pueblo.
“As every artist evolves, the same happens to us directors,” stated López Mari. “We keep learning… [And] hopefully, more videos will be made that are more relevant, [that] contribute more to the cultural exchange, [and] that aren’t just a bunch of flashy visuals and bells and whistles.”
