11 Empowering Movies About the Afro-Latinx Experience You Can See in NYC This Month

Film festivals are a great way to champion new work by directors you love and a chance to discover new voices that excite you. That’s why we love heading to Toronto to see Pablo Larraín triumph, and why we fly to Sundance to support films like Colombia’s Between Sea and Land. But smaller festivals, especially those catering to more specialized films, deserve our attention for the way they champion storytellers and filmmakers that might otherwise not get the exposure they deserve. That’s certainly the case of the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) which is back this month for its 24th edition.

While stories about the black experience (see, for example, the success of the Miami-set Moonlight) are showing signs of an industry belatedly righting the wrongs of years past, it’s undeniable that black filmmakers from around the world play a disproportionately marginal role in what we get to see on our screens. That’s why ADIFF’s mission is “to present these films to diverse audiences, redesign the Black cinema experience, and strengthen the role of African and African descent directors in contemporary world cinema.” With a total of 66 films from 30 countries, they’re not only spotlighting Nigerian cinema but presenting projects that travel between Sweden and Gambia, Guadeloupe and France, and they’ll even be showing a musical documentary about a Malian pop star fighting against Radical Islamists with music.

Fortunately, in the global diaspora spirit of the fest, there are also a number of stories from our very own continent. With films tackling everything from Afro-Mexican heritage to Cuban baseball teams, this year’s edition of ADIFF serves as another reminder of the often under-explored African roots that are felt all across Latin America. Take a look at the 11 Latino films playing the fest below.

The African Diaspora Film Festival runs November 25 to December 11, 2016 in New York City.