The Latino List

Filmmaker and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ new documentary The Latino Listexplores the complexity of Latino identity in America. The filmis comprised of 15 interviews with a range of contemporary Latino icons: from the actress Eva Longoria to professional golfer “Chi-Chi” Rodrguez, to US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The program is the most recent installment of HBO’s documentary series on race, following The Black List (2008-2011). It airs tonight on HBO Latino, and tomorrow night on HBO, in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month.

In the film, each luminary relates his or her childhood inspirations, struggles against ethnic invisibility, and commitment to maintaining a community-based cultural identity. The Cuban-American rapper Armando Christian Prez (a.k.a. Pitbull) remembers how his heritage confused the record industry, which couldn’t quite figure out what category he fit into: he recalls them saying, “he’s too Latin for hip hop, he’s too hip hop for Latin, he’s too English, he’s too Spanish…”

Honduran-American actress America Ferrera had a similar struggle. Long before her hit television series Ugly Betty, Ferrera was auditioning for a Bail Bonds commercial when the casting director asked to “sound more Latina.” She couldn’t. “I was just somewhere weirdly in-between,” she explains. Ferrera says she had a difficult time finding roles because of her apparent racial ambiguity.

Each person featured in the film describes how learning to harness their mestizo (or mixed) heritage — and the ability to move across different languages, cultures, and races — allowed them to achieve major success, both within their communities and in mainstream America.

The Latino List debuts on HBO Latino tonight at 9pm ET/PT, and premieres on HBO tomorrow at 8pm ET/PT.

In conjunction with the documentary film, Greenfield-Sanders took 25 large-format color portraits of famous Latinos from the worlds of culture, politics, business and sports, including many of the people interviewed for the film. The photography exhibit — also called “The Latino List” — is on display at the Brooklyn Museum through December 11, 2011.

Slideshow: The Latino List