Docu-Series Promotes Positivity in the Minority Communities in the American South and the Caribbean
A look inside a community in Puerto Rico. (Picture courtesy of Nick Price)
A riveting documentary series called Hindsight reveals the true stories of minority communities in the American South and Puerto Rico. BIPOC-led media organizations, Firelight Media, Reel South, and Center for Asian American Media sponsored the series for the PBS channel. The organizations created the initiative Hindsight which covers topics prevalent to minority communities, including the COVID-19 pandemic and racial reckonings. The docu-series shows the experience of life through the lens of filmmakers from communities of color.
The documentary series includes six documentary short films that come directly from their communities. PBS series producer Nick Price said the short stories offer something unique and moving in the continued coverage of how our communities survived these dire times.
"The films included in the docu-series continue to find joy and purpose in this changing region," Price said. "Audiences will find these films compelling and timely and maybe even a little surprising."
One included film is “Comida Pa' Los Pobres,” meaning Food for the Poor in Spanish.
The film focuses on Giovanni, a young Puerto Rican activist. The activist confronts the island's persistent food insecurity crisis while fighting scrutiny from local authorities. Comida Pa’ Los Pobres is a story about how a community takes care of each other. The film portrays how the people are building their way to feed themselves and have a better life regardless of how the government institutions deal with the ongoing crisis.
The director and producer of the film, Arleen Cruz-Alicea, said that Giovanni is an ordinary person who created an extraordinary initiative, despite the challenges that his initiative implies.
"Giovanni has organized a movement outside of the system with solidarity as a shield and community relationships as their most valuable resource," Cruz-Alicea said. "That power is what inspired me to tell this story and the possibility to inspire other people.
In the past decade, Puerto Rico experienced many struggles, including hurricanes, earthquakes, and now the pandemic. However, Cruz-Alicea said that the government's response had not been enough in the context of a very complex political status.
The film director of Comida Pa’ Los Pobres, Arleen Cruz-Alicea. (Picture courtesy of Arleen Cruz-Alicea)
"In the end, Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo or 'Only the people save the people,’” she said.
Cruz-Alicea continued by saying that food is the essential element that nurtures the body. She said that it could also determine how a community relates to one another and how access to food is usually taken for granted.
"I believe in the power of community and the profound impact of solidarity," Cruz-Alicea said. "Comida Pa’ Los Pobres is a Caribbean film that tells the story of how food can be the power that transforms the way we live in the community. Giovanni's activism is a concrete example of how to care for each other. Being able to make this film and share this story is a way to inspire other people and communities to build their solidarity-oriented movements regarding food, housing, child care, and youth programs."
The filmmaker said that she is inspired to share the intangible aspects of the human experience with the audience.
"There is a very profound and powerful line that Giovanni says in the film that somehow portrays the essence of this story," Cruz-Alicea said. "Giovanni said, ‘The dominant narratives are always that the past was better. And I don't adhere to that narrative. For me, the future is what can be better.’”
Cruz-Alicea said that the Hindsight Project inspired her to push other Puerto Rican and Caribbean filmmakers to tell their stories and open the gate to more conversations.
"PBS is a significant venue. It is a quality seal that has an impact on a vast audience," Cruz-Alicea said. "As a Puerto Rican filmmaker living and working from Puerto Rico, the resources and access to industry conversations are very limited. So I had a team of industry experts walking by my side contributing to the development of the story."
Cruz-Alicea is currently working on another documentary called “Cacerola Girl”. It's a chronicle of the activist who brought uprisings in the summer of 2019 for confronting the police.
Stay up-to-date with Cruz-Alicea's work and watch other documentaries included in the PBS series.
Watch Hindsight here.