* This post was originally published at Chicana From Chicago.
There's nothing like a fit of jealousy and frustration to get me motivated in a positive way. The recent uproar of the Latino community calling out Hollywood about the lack of Latino representation, juxtaposed with the Black community's successful mobilization towards increasing their representation — which is undoubtedly fueling Black Panther’s record-shattering box office this weekend — has jolted me into posting a new edition of Films to Watch Out For Made by Latinos. But first, I want to dig into this question of what can we in the Latino community do if we ever want to SEE A SUPERHERO LIKE US.
I started this blog over ten years ago to raise awareness for American Latino storytellers. I was angry and confused as to why there was a staggering lack of authentic Latino representation in mainstream films, yet at the same time, I was discovering a number of Latino writers and directors in the independent film festival space. Not as many as I thought I would find, truth be told, but definitely a steady number of filmmakers whose storytelling sensibilities reflected a culture I related to. I wanted to use this blog to yell “Yo, there are hella talented Latino writers and directors out here.”
As if identifying them would be all it would take to make that change.
It was around that time I kept hearing that ridiculous claim from studio execs and agents that while they would love to champion more Latino talent, they just don't know of any. This statement persists today and is qualified with … ‘who are good enough,’ or my favorite; ‘high-profile enough’ (insert fit of frustrated fury and bittersweet irony for that last part).