Afro-Latin Visibility

Comprising a series of five screenings and associated cultural and academic events, Afro-Latin Visibility in Focus highlights diverse filmic engagements with Afro-descendant heritage and futures from across the Central American and Caribbean region. This featured strand of the festival is collectively curated by organisers of the AHRC-funded International Network hosted at University of Edinburgh, ‘Afro-Latin (in)visibility and the UN Decade: Cultural politics in motion in Nicaragua, Colombia and the UK’ in collaboration with AiM.

Afro-descendants occupy distinct symbolic and cultural spaces within their national contexts throughout Latin America. Despite the significance of their cultural and economic contributions since colonial times, they are continually marginalised by state and international political agendas. In order to resist and overturn the prolonged abuses enacted against their communities, Afro-descendant intellectuals, artists and civil society leaders mobilise audiovisual tactics to enhance their presence and draw recognition for their vibrant cultural practices. The focus on the Central American-Caribbean region will shed light on the transregional linkages of Afro-descendant activism in the area, focusing in particular on how film and media channel cultural imaginaries, and envision Afro-descendant cultural politics.

Invited speakers and activists Ramón Perea Lemos (Carabantú Association, Colombia) and Dixie Lee (URACCAN University, Nicaragua), both members of the Network, will host discussions and Q&As in relation to the screenings.