Las Cafeteras. (Photo credit: Sotomayor Productions)
Popular East LA band Las Cafeteras is getting a documentary. The film company behind the project, Sotomayor Productions, needs your help.
For those outside of Los Angeles, Las Cafeteras is a folk group combining soul, Americana, Afro-Mexican music, Son Jarocho, rock and hip hop into their music and activism. They describe themselves as “a sonic explosion of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats and powerful rhymes that document stories of a community seeking to ‘build a world where many worlds fit.'” The band has performed with names like Café Tacuba, Common, Lila Downs, Natalia LaFourcade, Gypsy Kings, Ozomatli, Juanes, Los Lobos and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
The band uses their art to change Los Angeles (and the world) for the better, with the group’s combined 40 years of organizing and storytelling experience to create works “using various mediums to support immigrant rights, gender and trans justice, environmental justice, BLM solidarity,” and other causes. They have partnered with groups including Community Coalition, CHIRLA, Big Bowl of Ideas, Poder Latinx, Advancement Project, UNIDOS, Latino Health Foundation, LA Phil (YOLA), Center For Cultural Power, #NOPrisons, SANKOFA, Seed The Vote, Voto Latino, Rock the Vote, New Georgia Project and the Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Justice, among others.
(Photo credit: Sotomayor Productions)
Sotomayor Productions, led by Kristal Sotomayor, has documented the band for several years, chronicling the group’s activism and their lives on and off stage. The production company describes the film as “more than a music documentary.”
“It’s a portrait of immigrant families, political organizing, joy as resistance, and the power of art to bring people together across generations,” it said.
Sotomayor also called the film a project that has become much bigger than the film itself. She described it as “a story
about family, resilience, and the power of art to bring people together during difficult times.”
Sotomayor Productions currently has a GiveButter campaign running until the end of October. to give, click here, and to learn more about the project, watch the video below.
