Biography
Andrea Leland is an independent filmmaker and artist. She has produced and directed award winning documentaries focusing on Caribbean and Latin American cultures. In Haiti, Belize, Chiapas, and several Caribbean islands, she works collaboratively with community members providing a forum to voice their untold stories, personal challenges and compelling triumphs. Social, artistic or political actions are placed within context of their culture, imploring the viewer to confront old myths and discover a new perspective. These documentaries are successful tools for cultural preservation. Titles include: Jamesie, King of Scratch (2006), The Garifuna Journey (1998), The Long Road Home (1991), and Voodoo and the Church in Haiti (1989). These films have won numerous awards and have screened at museums, conferences and festivals throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States. Selected invitational screenings include: American Museum of Natural History, New York; 18th Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, France; Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles; and the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian, New York. All unedited raw footage, transcripts, project notes and other materials from her Caribbean collections are available for research purposes in the Center for Black Music Research library archives. The material is available free to the public for any person interested in doing further research. Andrea is a member of Newday Films. She is the co-founder of the St. John Film Society which presents independent films free to the public on the island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands.