| Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Joel Alfonso Vargas |
| Written by | Joel Alfonso Vargas |
| Produced by | Paolo Maria Pedullà |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Rufai Ajala |
| Edited by | Irfan Van Tuijl |
| Music by | Niklas Sandahl |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Oscilloscope |
Release date |
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Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages |
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Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) is a 2025 American drama film, written and directed by Joel Alfonso Vargas, in his directorial debut. It stars Juan Collado, Destiny Checho, Yohanna Florentino and Nathaly Navarro.
It had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2025.
Rico spends his summer selling homemade cocktails on Orchard Beach. When his girlfriend, Destiny, becomes pregnant, she moves in with his family.
Principal photography took place over the course of 16 days in The Bronx. [1] [2]
The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2025, where it won the NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast. [3] [4] It will also screen at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025. [5] [6] The film had its New York premiere on April 4, 2025 at the Lincoln Center and screened at the Museum of Modern Art the following day as part of the New Directors/New Films Festival. It also made it to the 'Meeting Point' slate of the 70th Valladolid International Film Festival. [7] In September 2025, Oscilloscope acquired distribution rights to the film. [8]
Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.