Sundance's Glance at the Caribbean: Five Films Exploring Adversity and Serenity

By Josie Mel ndez

To be born in the Caribbean is to be raised by the sea and the earth. A destination deemed as paradise from a colonial lens, but the reality is that to live in the islands of the Caribbean is to live in adversity under an oppressive stare. As is the actuality within many Latin American territories, those in the Caribbean find themselves at a disadvantage due to geopolitical barriers. Once the Caribbean was united by its waters, ancestors freely traveled from coast to coast. Now we believe in these borders that have been set for us, ones that separate us.

To grow up in the Caribbean is to be raised by contradictions. We yell with pride over our lands, our culture, and our mannerisms, but many of these traits come from those who brought shame, bloodshed, and terror to the land we learned how to walk in. It's hereditary. But we've also learned to fight for the best traits that were gifted to us by the storytellers that came before. We simultaneously carry adversity and serenity like crosses on our backs.

Many filmmakers strive to document this through film - from underground dealings to privileged assimilation. Movies have always been a way to capture reality, be it in its true essence or through a modified view, and now it is able to connect us once again, through our stories.

Caribbean cinema has explicitly a distinct voice. It often focuses on the people of these lands that move through it all both in harmony and in dissonance. Most pieces explore reality, making documentaries the most common entries for Caribbean storytelling in film festivals.

In order to celebrate and highlight the craft of the filmmakers that have dared to share their culture and identity with the world and highlight those that have put the islands on the map, here is a list of five films that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. These projects exemplify the spirit of those born and raised by the Caribbean, those that take their culture with them abroad, and those from the diaspora that continue to carry it for those that came before them.

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/strongsundances-glance-at-the-caribbean...
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