Over the decades, popular culture has created dominant narratives of the Dominican Republic that are most often synonymous with poverty, crime, or state violence. Mainstream media, from news outlets to entertainment, focus on the nation’s exploitative tourism circuit, which props itself up as a paradisiac Caribbean escape for able foreigners, or the country’s fraught relationship with identity, rampant sex work, and homophobia. Bantú Mama breaks free from these scripts, telling a story of the island’s largely afro-indigenous population, including its struggles, autonomous expression, and diasporic links. And on Saturday, Bantú Mama was honored with an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding International Motion Picture,” becoming the first Dominican film to win the prestigious award.
