Cinelogue Presents: Afro-Indigenous Films from Latin America

Sugar Island

by Johanné Gómez Terrero, Dominican Republic/Spain, 2024 | 91 min. | Spanish with English subtitles 

Set within a Dominican sugarcane community, Sugar Island follows Makenya, a Dominican-Haitian teenager whose unexpected pregnancy sparks a personal, social, and spiritual awakening. Blending documentary and fiction, Johanné Gómez Terrero’s film lays bare the colonial legacies embedded within the Caribbean sugar industry and the racial violence faced by Haitian communities in the Dominican Republic. At the same time, the film foregrounds community care, affection, and ancestral spirituality as forms of resistance, tracing how collective memory and Afro-diasporic traditions continue to shape everyday life and survival.

Before the screening, a pre-recorded video by the curator will introduce the film program.

The screening will be followed by a conversation between Rehana Esmail (Cinelogue) and Yvette Mutumba (Contemporary And) on the importance of centering voices at the margins of global cultural production and shifting the narrative from representation toward self-determination.

This screening and conversation is organized by Cinelogue and Contemporary And América Latina (C&AL).

Cinelogue is a curated streaming platform and curatorial initiative that centers cinema from the Global Majority and their diasporas. Working in collaboration with filmmakers, curators, and cultural partners, Cinelogue brings together under-circulated films and situates them within broader social, political, and historical contexts. Alongside streaming film programs, the platform develops editorial texts, and public conversations that engage with cinema as a space for critical reflection and exchange.

Contemporary And América Latina (C&AL) is a contemporary art magazine that connects Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, publishing in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Creole. It is one of the publishing projects of Contemporary And (C&) – a platform for international contemporary art, reflection, connection, and exchange. Founded in 2013, C& also organizes free education programs, reading rooms, mentoring initiatives, artist commissions, and the C& Cyclopedia.