‘Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories,’ 25 Years Later
Ruben Foster, Diana-Elena Matsoukas Foster, and Pablo Foster revisit their South Bronx neighborhood. Photo courtesy of Pam Sporn/Grito Productions.
At the beginning of Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories: An Afro-Cuban Coming of Age Story, Diana-Elena Matsoukas Foster—one of seven siblings to migrate to the South Bronx—reflects on the Bay of Pigs Invasion, also referred to as Playa Girón, in 1961. Only 9, Diana-Elena describes the historic event as one of the “most memorable experiences” toward the end of her time in Cuba.
The invasion was the catalyst that prompted her mother, Verónica Foster Coombs, to immigrate to the United States with the family in 1962, reuniting with her siblings and, ultimately, settling in the Bronx. “There was a sense of safety because we lived with 15 to 17 people in the same apartment in the South Bronx, and all family,” she says to Intervenxions. “So you felt surrounded by love . . . I remember also the South Bronx was a community of wonderful people. That was a good beginning.”
Diana-Elena Matsoukas Foster during her Cuban Roots, Bronx Stories interview. Photo courtesy of Pam Sporn/Grito Productions.
Ruben Foster during his Cuban Roots, Bronx Stories interview. Photo courtesy of Pam Sporn/Grito Productions.
In Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories, director and producer Pam Sporn masterfully brings the Foster family’s oral history to the screen through on-camera interviews and photos, weaving together intergenerational storytelling and a history of migration that connects Jamaica, Cuba, and the South Bronx. Narrator Pablo Elliot Foster Carrión introduces viewers to his father (and Sporn’s husband), Pablo Foster; aunt Diana-Elena; and uncle Ruben Foster. The viewer also meets family elders, like his grandfather Carlos Abraham Foster and great-aunt Cattá (Eliza Beatriz Coombs Shand). Released in 2000, the documentary marries their first-person accounts and Sporn’s expertise as a filmmaker to showcase a Cuban-American experience that addresses identity from various lenses—such as race, nationality, language, migration, and socioeconomic status, to name a few.
(L-R) Ruben Foster, Pablo Elliot Foster Carrión, Pablo Foster, and Diana-Elena Matsoukas Foster in Cuban Roots, Bronx Stories. Photo courtesy of Pam Sporn/Grito Productions.
“I'm part of the family, but it wasn't my experience; it's something that I feel like I know very closely, but still it's not mine,” Sporn says. “But I'm a filmmaker and love history, and so I guess, the strength I have is that I could zoom out to bring in a larger historical context.”
Sporn describes the process of bringing Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories to fruition as collaborative; she could not have completed this film without the Foster family's willingness to share their histories—their timelines she etched on a lengthy roll of paper. It was also illuminating, a deep dive into the historical events and how key points, like the start of the migration of West Indians to Cuba in the 1920 and the Cuban Revolution, overlapped with the Fosters' stories.
Though the documentary undoubtedly captures the overall memories and perspectives of the family via the members who appeared on screen, looking back, she wishes there were additional voices she could have included; however, she felt it was important to respect their privacy. “It's the beauty and the challenge of collecting oral histories and gathering history from the people who lived it as opposed to just reading secondary sources about it,” she says.
But what makes it to Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories is the documentation of a Black Cuban-American family who set roots down in the Bronx and how they navigate life in the United States. As Sporn listened to this “family of storytellers,” as she describes them, she knew it was important to show a different side of the Cuban-American experience. In one scene, Diana-Elena, Pablo, and Ruben stand in front of their old apartment building, 777-783 Fox Street, reflecting on their time there. Being Afro-Cuban in a predominantly African-American and Puerto Rican neighborhood magnified their understanding of race, identity, and culture at a young age.
“It’s a constant identity navigation . . . we were the only Cubans that we know of [on our block],” Diana-Elena recalls. “You're navigating the language, and you are navigating the cultures. Then, you're in between these two cultures: One is African-American, and one is Puerto Rican . . . For one culture, you are not Black enough. For another culture, you're too Black.”
Despite their differences, they made friends.
Poster for Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories. Photo courtesy of Pam Sporn/Grito Productions.
The documentary also sheds light on how the realities of their new homeland impacted the family. Despite their mother’s attempt to keep her sons out of the military (a key reason why they left Cuba), Carlos Foster Jr. was deployed and served in the Vietnam War. Diana-Elena, who was in high school at the time, protested against U.S. involvement in Vietnam. For Ruben, the allure of gaining respect in the neighborhood led to substance abuse. But an unexpected encounter on 170th Street and Jerome Avenue led him to a Christian rehabilitation program that changed the course of his life. We later see Ruben playing congas at church, then preaching at the pulpit. Moments like this in the documentary highlight the pressure to assimilate and the weight of the American Dream.
Having been in the U.S. for 33 years, Pablo Foster’s return to Cuba is another pivotal point in the film. Arriving in the northeastern town of Guaro, he—along with his wife and daughter—visits his Tía Cattá, who he lived with in Cuba, and reminisces on his time there. He also shares photos of family in the states with her—a moment many immigrants, first- and second- generation, can relate to. Though time and distance often form barriers, moments of reconnection ensure familial bonds remain and stories pass from generation to generation.
The documentary, which takes viewers from Cuba to the Bronx, then back again, explores the concept of home. Is home one’s place of birth? Or where you grow up and have spent the most time? Is it a physical location versus something within oneself? Narratives like Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories prove there’s more than one answer.
At the close of the film, Pablo notes his trip “bridged that gap,” which viewers can surmise he’s referring to his time away from Cuba, as well as the complexity of his identity as a Cuban-American.
“I definitely felt Cuban until I was about 40. I would say I was Cuban,” says Diana-Elena in our interview. “After that, my identity changed to being Cuban-American because it would be a lie to say that I was not American because most of my life has been here and I contributed to this culture, and this society, and vice versa. I have to acknowledge the entirety of that experience.”
The existing themes and questions posed within Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories are still relevant today. To celebrate the documentary’s 25th anniversary, the afrolatin@ forum, Bronx Heritage Center, Third World Newsreel, Grito Productions, Bronx County Historical Society, Latinx Arts Consortium, and Bronx Music Hall hosted a special screening and panel discussion in the borough.
Photo courtesy of Pam Sporn/Grito Productions.
“We wanted to partner to show the documentary Cuban Roots, Bronx Stories because even 25 years after its release, it still continues to powerfully advance Black narratives by capturing the nuanced, everyday experiences of Afro-Latinx individuals,” says Guesnerth Josue Perea, executive director of the afrolatin@ forum. “It also captures a narrative of Afro-Cuban life that is seldom written about or recognized. While theoretical and academic discussions of Blackness and Afro-Latinidad are invaluable, documenting lived realities, in line with a Fanonian framework, is crucial for the Afro-Latinx movement and the larger Afro-Latinx Studies field. This film serves as a vital reminder of the transformative power of narrative for Black communities, and the necessity of preserving these stories to envision an Afrofuture that embraces expansive definitions of both Blackness and Latinidad.”
The documentary closes with Pablo Elliot Foster Carrión heading to his ancestral homeland, signifying that their family story continues with his generation.
Third World Newsreel distributes Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories: An Afro-Cuban Coming of Age Story for classroom and community use; the documentary is also available for individual viewing on Vimeo On Demand.
