Gaby Moreno Tells a Powerful Story of ‘Loss and Longing’ in Poignant Film ‘Lamento’

Gaby Moreno’s new short film for “Lamento” is a powerful look at memory. Rolling Stone can premiere the Guatemalan musician‘s 10-minute film companion of the song, shot at the ruins of an abandoned beach resort swallowed by the sea in her native country.

“This is a story of longing and loss, of dreams that pull us forward and roots that call us back,” Moreno tells Rolling Stone. “It’s about the silent grief of seeing home fade into a memory, realizing that time moves on even when we wish it didn’t. The song inspired the short film, a story of love, exile, and the echoes of belonging that never truly disappear.”

The film directed by Diego Contreras sees Tony Revolori and Moreno arriving at a deserted beach where large apartment building ruins are swallowed by the sea. Moreno finds then a piano on the side of the crashing waves and performs the melancholic “Lamento” as clips play of the singer walking through the abandoned buildings’ rooms where people once lived. “You are my sweet desire, I want to drink from your spring,” sings Moreno in her operatic voice.

The film turns techno-dystopian as she comes across a floating robot, named Finitor, that scans her memories of the abandoned place, later turning the structures into a 3D model. The real cement buildings then crumble as Moreno sings their swan song.

It turns out these buildings were a real place, a vibrant beach resort that’s disappeared due to the effects of climate change. “Their concrete skeletons now rest like ghosts submerged beneath the mighty, infinite sea,” reads text onscreen. “Local fishermen foretell the inevitable— giving the remaining ruins no more than a few years before the waves finally swallow them whole.”

The visual is a poignant portrait that mixes reality with sci-fi to tell the stories of grief of a place that once was. “As immigrants, we build lives elsewhere, yet a part of us never leaves. Turicentro Likin — where the film was shot — to me, is way more than just a place. It’s a symbol of home, family, culture —the essence of who we are,” the film’s director, Contreras, tells Rolling Stone. “As time passes, those memories eventually fade. ‘Lamento’ is about preserving them before they disappear.”

Contreras and both Moreno and Revolori spent time visiting the now-deserted area of Guatemala during their youth, sharing real-life photos of the place that once was at the end of the video, reminding viewers how imminent the effects of climate change really are for everyone.

The short film is backed and inspired by Moreno’s song “Lamento” from her 2022 LP, Alegoría. This is the second time she taps Contreras for a project after he directed a visual featuring Oscar Isaac for “Luna de Xelajú” in 2023.

On Thursday night, Moreno and Contreras hosted a premiere event and Q&A to celebrate Lamento at Harmony Gold in Los Angeles.