Africana, Latin American, & Caribbean Studies: Links to Film Distributors
Links to Sources for Locating Videos & DVDs for Africana, Latin American, & Caribbean Studies
African Media Program
A database of films and videos about Africa, created and maintained by Michigan State University's African Studies Center. Also includes the South African Film and Video Project, a database of films about South Africa.
Las Américas Film & Video Network
Distributes Latin American films and videos to a North American market. Includes documentaries, experimental films, and features.
ArtMattan
A film distributor that focuses "on the human experience of black people in Africa, the Caribbean, North and South America and Europe.” They also hold an annual film festival in New York, the African Diaspora Film Festival. Educational institutions may rent copies of films to be screened in classrooms.
Banyan Films
A producer and distributor of films about the southern Caribbean. Chiefly documentaries, with some shorter fictional pieces. Most of existing catalog seems to focus on the culture of Trinidad & Tobago.
Bullfrog Films
Known for being the oldest distributor in the United States of environmental films, they also distribute documentaries in African Studies, African-American Studies, Central America & the Caribbean, Indigenous Peoples, Latin American Studies, Mexico.
California Newsreel
A producer and distributor of documentaries on social justice topics. Particular strengths are in African and African American, and to a lesser extent, Caribbean subjects.
Colombia University Libraries African Studies: Film and Video on Africa
An excellent collection of links about the study of African film prepared by Colombia University Libraries. Includes links to festivals, other university collections, and distributors.
Documentary Educational Resources
Produces and distributes educational films on cross-cultural topics. More titles on Africa, but some additional titles on the Caribbean and Latin America.
Educational Media Reviews Online
Database of educational films. You can browse by subject - African American Studies, African Studies, Central American Studies, Latin American Studies. Includes short reviews of titles written by librarians and academics, as well as distribution information.
Facets Multimedia
One of the largest distributors of titles from around the world. Often the first place to look for hard-to-find films. Look under Spanish/Latin Cinema and Other Foreign Cinema for titles from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. Films may be rented but this requires a monthly or yearly subscription.
Filmmakers Library
Distributes educational documentaries on Africa, African Americans, Latin America, the Caribbean, with an additional section on “Third World Women.” Available for rental or sale.
First Run/Icarus
Distributes numerous titles on Africa, African-Americans, the Caribbean, Latin America, Indigenous People, as well as films sorted by topics such as Racism, Civil Rights, etc.
LARC Lending Library
Search this catalog of videos from Latin American & the Caribbean from Tulane University's Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Educators can borrow films for free to be shown in their classrooms. Interested lenders should contact the Latin American Resource Center (LARC) more than 3 weeks before they intend to show a given video in their classroom.
Leda Serene Films
Films produced by Frances-Anne Solomon, typically on the experience of Caribbean people in Canada.
La Médiathèque de Trois Monde
French company distributing titles about Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia, and on such topics as immigration, human rights and development. Most titles are in French, only some offer English subtitles.
Movie Mail
General catalog of titles that can be browsed by country; includes major popular titles of Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, South Africa etc.
New Yorker Films
Important distributors of independent and world cinema. Titles from Latin America, with a few from the Caribbean and Africa.
Rice N Peas
An independent production company that focuses on documentaries. Titles on Black Britain, the Caribbean and Africa. Can view some trailers online.
Third World Newsreel
Titles from this distributor on varying topics including Chicanos, Hip Hop, Apartheid, Civil Rights, Immigration, Puerto Ricans, Race Relations, Racial Idenity, etc.
Women Make Movies
Titles from the distributor focus on issues of gender & sexuality. Includes special collections of films on African women, Latinas, and African Ameriacan women. The organization is particularly interested in supporting films by and about women of color.