Amare: una mirada a la migración en la Costa Chica de Oaxaca desde una etnoficción

Amare (2024) is a short fiction film made by the Afro-Mexican filmmaker, native of the Oaxacan coast, Balam Toscano, known for other works such as Romina e Iván (2021) and La vida de una niña cocodrilo (2022); he is currently working on his debut feature Soy Yuyé. This review is focused on reflecting on the importance of fiction films made from within the communities to make visible the issues and problems that concern them, as in this case, migration to the United States, seen from a gender perspective. In addition to commenting on the aesthetic particularities of Amare, shot on 35 mm film, other points are addressed here, such as the risk of pigeonholing Afro-Mexican audiovisuals in the documentary genre, canonizing narratives based on folklore, something that Amare strongly confronts, showing the power of fiction film as a tool for Afro-Mexican communities.