Synopsis

I was about seven years old the first time someone called me “black” on the street. I turned around to see who they were talking to, then I realised it was me. That day I understood I was black, and the laughter it caused among the people nearby made me think being a black person wasn’t that great. Was this only happening to me? Or did it happen to other black women? “Negra” explores what it means to inhabit Mexico as a black woman. It tells the story of five afro-descendant women from southern Mexico, exposing racism, resistance and processes of self-acceptance, strategies for transcending stereotypes, and the celebration of their identity.

Details

Feature (71mins) Documentary | Mexico

Production

Directors:

Medhin Tewolde Serrano

Medhin Tewolde Serrano is an Eritrean-Mexican woman originally from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, who has lived in Chiapas, Mexico for over 10 years. After her training in documentary filmmaking, she became concerned with telling the stories of Others. She has dedicated herself to participatory video processes and community communication in Spain, Tunisia, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. This has revealed her own process of constructing identity as an Afro-descendant woman, which motivated her to create a documentary that speaks to the significance and implication of being a Black woman in Mexico.