For the past 20+ years, Andrea Leland has produced / 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 (US Virgin Islands), The Garifuna Journey (Belize), The Long Road Home (Chiapas, Mexico) and Voodoo and the Church in Haiti. These films have won numerous awards and have screened at museums, conferences and festivals throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States and have won numerous awards. 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. She has written articles that have been published in the Caribbean Review, ACM Literary Magazine and Angles magazines.

Through Ms. Leland’s collaborative approach to documentary filmmaking, she has gained the respect and confidence of members of the Haitian, Mayan, and Garifuna communities. In addition, Leland’s documentaries have proved to be successful tools for cultural preservation. The Garifuna Journey, produced in collaboration with Garifuna elders in Belize, was instrumental in gaining United Nations recognition as “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” for the Garifuna community.