Connecting with Chaplain Gemma Cubero del Barrio

For documentary filmmaker and chaplain, Gemma Cubero del Barrio, life has unfolded through a series of unexpected connections – each one drawing her closer to a deeper understanding of storytelling, service, and the power of being present with others.

Born and raised in Medina del Campo, a town in the province of Valladolid, Spain, Gemma never imagined her journey would take her to Hawaiʻi. More than 30 years ago, she came to the United States to study journalism at Elon University. What seemed like a series of unexpected connections would eventually lead her to documentary filmmaking, storytelling, and, later, spiritual care.

Her love of storytelling began long before she ever picked up a camera. As a teenager, during a difficult period in her family’s life, she began keeping a journal as a way to process her emotions and make sense of what she was experiencing. At the same time, she developed a fascination with film. Although no one in her family worked in the industry, she held onto the hope that one day she might find her place in it.

That opportunity came in 1998 while she was living in San Francisco. There, she met acclaimed documentary filmmaker Lourdes Portillo, who hired her as an associate producer and researcher. Portillo introduced Gemma to documentary filmmaking and allowed her to learn the craft through experience.

After living in New Mexico and California, Gemma moved to Hawaiʻi in 2005. While she came initially because of love, she quickly fell in love with Hawaiʻi itself – the land, the culture, and the connection to nature that she found here. “Hawaiʻi has allowed me to balance my life,” she shared. “Filmmaking is very demanding and challenging, but being here has helped me feel closer to the elements of nature.”That sense of connection has deeply influenced her work as a filmmaker. Although she arrived in Hawaiʻi as an established documentary filmmaker, she never expected to create films centered on the islands. Over time, however, the stories around her became deeply personal. “The stories really started to enter my personal life,” Gemma explained. “I got to meet people, and then the stories just became more and more personal.”

Her work has included films made in Hawaiʻi and the Cook Islands, where she collaborated closely with communities to share stories rooted in Polynesian cultures. For Gemma, documentary filmmaking is grounded in respect, deep listening, and entering another person’s reality with openness. Those same values would later become the foundation of her work as a chaplain.

Although filmmaking became her life’s work, another calling had quietly accompanied her for decades. Raised in a Catholic family, Gemma was introduced to meditation through karate as a child and later deepened her Zen Buddhist practice while living in New Mexico. Through the work of Upaya Zen Center and its founder, Rōshi Joan Halifax, she became increasingly interested in questions about life, death, and compassionate presence. Gemma’s curiosity and devotion to Zen practice led her to become a resident of the Zen Center of Los Angeles, where she has been a student of Rōshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao for the past 15 years.

In 2021, after completing a documentary project that had taken nearly ten years, Gemma found herself reflecting on what might come next. During a conversation with a close friend in Hawaiʻi, she mentioned that in her next life she wanted to return to Upaya to study death and dying. Her friend asked a simple question: Why wait until another life? That conversation prompted Gemma to pursue the Upaya Buddhist Chaplaincy Training program – a decision that eventually led her back to the Hawaiian Islands.

As part of her studies, she needed to complete 100 hours of volunteer service. Hoping to return to Hawaiʻi, she contacted Pacific Health Ministry (PHM) after a chaplain in Los Angeles recommended the organization. What began as volunteer service soon led to enrollment in PHM’s Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program. “My father passed away in a hospital, and I was by his bedside throughout his final days. At the time, I knew very little about hospitals, but the experience of his passing was transformative. What I never expected was that one day I would come to love working in the hospital environment myself.”As her training progressed, she began recognizing striking similarities between documentary filmmaking and spiritual care. Both invite practitioners to meet people where they are, to listen, and to remain present without predetermined outcomes. “As a filmmaker, I was always looking for meaning because you have to create a story,” she said. “But in spiritual care, I learned that there is no need to look for meaning. The real need is just to be present.”

While she was completing her residency at The Queen’s Medical Center through PHM’s CPE program, another unexpected milestone arrived. Gemma learned she had been inducted into the Emmy Gold & Silver Circle, recognizing more than 25 years of significant contributions to the television industry. “When I got the call, I thought it was fake news,” she laughed. “It felt like both worlds coming together.”

After completing CPE, Gemma was hired by PHM as a staff chaplain and spiritual care provider at REHAB Hospital of the Pacific. She now serves patients and families there part-time while continuing her work as an award-winning documentary filmmaker, allowing both vocations to inform and enrich each other.Today, Gemma no longer sees filmmaking and chaplaincy as separate callings. Instead, they have become complementary ways of serving others. “I don’t think I would have entered this field if it wasn’t because of my Zen practice. Zen reached a point where just meditating was not enough, and I wanted to find more direct ways to serve.”

Reflecting on her experience with PHM, Gemma says she found not only excellent clinical training but also a welcoming, supportive community. Coming from a Zen Buddhist background, she appreciated being embraced by an organization that values interfaith spiritual care and prepares chaplains to accompany people of all faiths and backgrounds with compassion.

Looking back, Gemma sees a thread connecting every chapter of her life – from a teenager writing in her journal in Spain to documenting stories around the world to walking hospital hallways alongside patients and families. Through PHM, she discovered that storytelling and spiritual care share the same foundation: listening, staying present, and meeting others with compassion.