Few movies and television shows celebrate Black culture and portray the issues they face in their lives. And often, only African-American culture is displayed, rather than Black African or Black Latino.

When it was reported earlier this year that the White House was going to change the name of Black History Month to National Afro-American History Month, it made this disparity more obvious. The immense scope of Black identity would thus be drastically limited.

This further increases the importance of seeing the heritage and history of Afro-Latinos portrayed in popular culture, something that unfortunately does not happen often, although there are examples that give us hope for change.

For example, during the recent African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) in New York City, Jorge Pérez Solano’s film La Negrada was shown, praised for its all-Black-Mexican cast. But his success was marred by the news that Pérez Solano described Afro-Mexicans as “savages” in an interview for a national newspaper.

Organizations such as México Negro, Huella Negra and Afrodescendencias en México maintain that the drama plays with stereotypes about Blacks.

Fortunately, other films were created by Afro-descendants to show different aspects of Latin American culture. The Afro-Latinx community is an undeniable force for the progress of the industry, in addition to helping foster a better understanding since, as The Hispanic Star Association recalls in its report, 77% of Latinos and Hispanics are not aware of their contributions to the nation.

Here we offer some of the most outstanding titles on Afro-Latino culture in this century:

Venezuela’s Pelo Malo (Bad Hair) (Mariana Rondón, 2013) tells the story of Junior, a boy who impatiently waits for his “good hair” to grow instead of “bad hair.”

For Junior, this means slippery, loose locks that he can only achieve by applying an enormous amount of effort and sometimes oil or mayonnaise to his naturally curly hair which he sees as a stigma. Only his grandmother understands and even encourages the young Junior’s differences.

The Dominican feature film Dólares de arena (Sand Dollars) (2014), by Dominican Laura Amelia Guzmán and Mexican Israel Cárdenas, presents Geraldine Chaplin as a French tourist who falls in love with a young Dominican woman. A story that avoids clichés to explore the situation of the young Dominican character played by Yanet Mojica.

It is impossible not to mention the 2003 Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film nominee, Fernando Meirelles’ Cidade de Deus (City of God). The Brazilian film focuses on the intelligent narration of Busca-Pé (Alexandre Rodrigues), a budding photographer whose way out of poverty lies in his camera and not in weapons, and tells the story of the gangs of children and young people he grows up with, armed to the teeth.

Manos sucias (Dirty Hands) (2014), produced by Spike Lee, is Josef Kubota Wladyka’s first feature film, following two brothers who have been separated for a long time. One is a desperate fisherman and the other a naive young man.

 

After their reunion, they embark on a drug trafficking journey along the Pacific coast of Colombia. A story that is both a thriller and a character study of these two young Afro-Colombians and that gives a new dimension to the story of drug trafficking in Colombia, far from the streets and in the middle of nature, by the sea.

The documentary series Negro (Black) explores and reveals identity, colonization, colorism, and racism within Latin America and the Caribbean from the point of view of Afro-descendants.

Afro-Panamanian director Dash Harris delves into the history of Afro-Latinidad and the meaning of this identity through interviews with people of African descent from various countries, including the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Honduras.

From the United States, Raising Víctor Vargas (2002), is set in the Dominican-American community of the Lower East Side of Manhattan (New York) where Víctor is a womanizing teenager or, in his words, a “daddy pimp.” The relationships between Víctor, his family and neighborhood provide another view of the work of Afro-Latino actors and actresses in the industry.

Liborio (2021), by Nino Martínez Sosa, takes us to the Dominican Republic at the beginning of the 20th century. A black peasant disappears in a hurricane and returns as a prophet, saying that he has been entrusted with a mission: to bring good and remove evil.

People begin to flock to his side, moving to the mountains to develop the dream of an independent community. Everything changes when the invading US Marines want to dissolve the community.

Winner of the Special Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, Manito opens a 48-hour window into the life of a family in Washington Heights. Director Eric Eason uses mostly untrained Afro-Latino actors in this story in which Manny (“Manito”) aspires to become the first member of his family to attend college. But his aspirations are derailed after a graduation party – an event accompanied by numerous tragedies.

In the sports field, Sugar (2008, by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck) tells the story of Miguel “Sugar” Santos, a prosperous professional who plays for one of the major league baseball teams in the Dominican Republic until he lands the opportunity to play in the United States minor leagues.

Arriving at his new destination, he encounters numerous cultural differences that go beyond the language barrier and explores issues of race, alienation, masculinity, religion, gender, and food, which show us how difficult it is for him to adapt.

Looking at television, and especially in the field of telenovelas, the documentary Negação Do Brasil (2000) examines some of the most classic Brazilian soap operas such as O Direito de Nascer, Beto Rockfeller, Antonio Maria, Como Salvar Meu Casamento, Escrava Isaura and Sinhá Moça, probing the social context and the role they played in seducing the masses.

How they framed and reinforced the idea of ​​racial democracy, the belief that Brazilian society was free from discrimination and racial antagonisms when the division between Whites and Blacks was always present.

Joe Zito Araújo’s documentary interviews actors and actresses such as Ruth de Souza, Zezé Mota, and Milton Gonçalves and analyzes approximately 40 years of Brazilian soap operas showing the first representations of Blacks on television.

 

Translated by Mario Amaya