Some Kind of Funny Porto Rican?

The first time you meet someone of Cape Verdean ancestry, you may be forgiven for holding this mental image due to the common African and European roots which leads to an external resemblance between some people of the two islands. But these two islands are otherwise figuratively and literally worlds apart in terms of their history and culture, and the experience of their emigrant communities in America.

No one knows this better that Claire Andrade-Watkins, Associate Professor of Visual & Media Arts at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Ms. Adrade-Watson is a second generation Cape Verdean-American and film-maker. She directed and produced the critically acclaimed documentary, "Some Kind of Funny Porto Rican: A Cape Verdean American Story (2006)" that tells the story of the displacement of the Cape Verdean community in Providence, Rhode Island in the 1960s due to urban renewal and gentrification.

Picking up where the previous documentary left off, Ms. Andrade-Watkins is in the post-production phase of a second highly anticipated documentary, "Atlantic Portals," the second in a planned trilogy and will be introduced at the Cabo Verde International Film Festival, October 13-16, on the Island of Sal. in Cape Verde. Be sure to check out the link to the film festival.