NEGRA
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 until I realized 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” shows the director in her search of exploring 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, processes of self-acceptance, strategies for transcending stereotypes, and the celebration of their identity.
Credits
Medhin Tewolde Serrano – Director, Writer
Daniela Contreras – Executive producer
TERRA NOSTRA FILMS – Producer
AMBULANTE – Producer
Juan Antonio Méndez Rodríguez – Cinematography
Carlo Massarelli – Audio engineer
Jaime Xlitler Álvarez – Audio engineer
Nicolas Défossé – Film editing
Martin de Torcy – Sound design
Carlos Cortés Navarrete – Sound mix
Rodrigo Verazaluce – Additional photography
Cecilia Monroy – Line producer
Pía Quintana – Line producer
Néstor Abel Jiménez Díaz – Colourist
Nicolas Défossé – Post production producer
Director Statement
For me, “Negra” is a documentary film in which I expose the process of constructing my own identity as an afro-descendant woman, looking to coincide and build bridges with the stories of other black sisters.
Director Biography
Medhin Tewolde Serrano is Eritrean-Mexican woman originally from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, who has lived in Chiapas for over 10 years. After her training in documentary filmmaking, she became concerned with telling the stories of Others. She has dedicated herself to accompanying participatory video processes and community communication in Spain, Tunisia, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Her accompaniment of these processes 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.
