Afromexico Films Website

Talk about talking things up: over the last few days I've posted several times about Mexican President Vicente Fox's racist, classist comments and the international uproar they provoked. I suggested that we set aside the issue of Afromexicans, who didn't appear to factor at all into his thoughts.

Today Bejata sent me an e-mail on the Afromexico Films Website.

It says:

From: Rafael Rebollar Corona
Sent: Mon, 16 May 2005 19:36:08 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [free4filmmakerz] AFROMEXICO FILMS WEB SITE

We are pleased to announce the publication of our brand new web page

www.afromexico.org

This site's intention is to become an informative tool based on discussion about the different aspects that characterize the African heritage in Mexico.

The core of this project consists in the realization of a series of video documentaries that explore different aspects of the african-mexican people. So far the first two documentaries of the series have been finished and published which are, LA RAIZ OLVIDADA ( The Forgotten Root) and DE FLORIDA A COAHUILA (From Florida to Coahuila).

Presently we are working on our third documentary CORRERIAS EN EL MONTE (Incursions into the Mountains) and we are seeking financial support in order to finish the work in progress. We are raising these funds in the form of co-production, sale of rights of distribution and support from organizations with the objective of promoting projects of cultural character. Another way to support us is by buying our documentaries which are available in a subtitled version in English from our distributor in the US, Latin American Video Archives.

In Mexico the role of Africans in the development of the nation is not oficially recognized, and one of the main goals of our project is to fight for that recognition. We hope that you have a chance to take a look at our site, and if you can provide us with feedback thatwill be most helpful for us. Please feel free to forward this mail to anyone you consider might be interested in our project. This would allow us to meet our goals in a timely manner, goals which help, to some extent, to the development of a culture of tolerance and the vision of diversity as the main asset of humankind.

The site looks fascinating (it has photos like the one above of Orlando [El Quizás, Guerrero], great links, and English-language pages as well), as do the films.

For those interested in Afromexican culture, another site to explore is Stanford graduate student Bobby Vaughn's Black Mexico Home Page, which focuses on Afromexicans in the southern (Pacific Coast) Costa Chica area of Guerrero and Oaxaca states. It's very informative and thorough.