Miriam Miente 12A

Part of ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Festival 2019 tour, presented by HOME, Manchester, with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from The National Lottery.

This award-winning first fiction feature from Cabral and Estrada is a coming-of-age story that transports you to the Caribbean with a theme they know well: class conflict in the Dominican Republic. In this conflict whiteness is aligned with higher status, something which mixed race teenager Miriam cannot fail to see, not least in the attitude of her own (white) mother. As Miriam and her friend Jennifer prepare for the their joint 15th birthday party extravaganza, panic sets in when she realises the date she’s met online is in fact black. It’s tragic to witness the corrosive effects on all concerned of this endemic and internalised racism, but Miriam is bound to win your heart in this topical exploration of identity politics.