Diaspora

Description

Official Selections
Alliance Cine Caraibes

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“As a crash course or an introduction to Caribbean history and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Diaspora is an excellent choice for college classrooms. Its shorter runtime means most class periods could include the full film.” – Video Librarian

Synopsis
“Diaspora” is a documentary about the formation of Caribbean identity through culture, ideas, and art as it traveled, mixed, and communicated within the migration to and from the region. It features interviews from the likes of Julia Alvarez (In the Time of the Butterflies), as well as a visual journey across the Atlantic: from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico all the way to the isle of Goree in Dakar, Senegal.

Director
Hector M. Valdez (Santo Domingo, 1989) began making short films throughout his university years, at McGill University. In 2017, his film, Melocotones, premiered and was selected as the ‘Film of the Festival’ at the Raindance Film Festival in 2017. In 2019, his follow-up film, Malpaso, World Premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and represented the Dominican Republic at the Spanish Academy Awards in 2020.