Breakthrough Black and Latino Roles on the Big Screen

Another recent film well received by both critics and audiences is On the Downlow, a 2004 short film shot in Chicago. The title is “unfortunate,” Duque says, noting the film alludes to the closeted aka “down low” lifestyle. The short also uses street gangs as its backdrop — certainly a clichéd theme in Latino film — and yet it fuses both themes to craft a tender romance between the two rival gang members. It’s sort of a queer Romeo and Juliet, if you will.

“The way that it's handled is deft and moving and, in some ways, soars above some of the problems with the storyline, including it's ending,” Duque notes. “As for Latino on Latino gay love in movies, as homophobic as Latino culture is often pegged to be, when handled well, it never fails to move me.”

WANTED: AN AMERICAN ALMODÓVAR

There was one common thread expressed by gay black and Latino filmmakers, writers and producers who spoke to AfterElton.com for this article: The best is yet to come.

“The lack of gay Latinos in American films” is not an accident, says Johnny Diaz. Most of these films are created by non-Latinos who “are recycling stereotypes in Hollywood. We need our own American Pedro Almodóvar to start capturing the colors and the layers of who we are in the United States.”

Kevin E. Taylor agrees. “It really would be very nice to see an authentic story,” he remarks. “If I have to do it myself, I will. You know what … I just might have to try to do it myself."

Visit Rod McCullom at his website Rod 2.0.