Cultivating culture on the silver screen
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KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) — Imagine not being able to see any films at the movie theater about your own culture or in your own language.
A Kansas City man is filling that gap for the local Hispanic community at a small theater on the city’s northeast side.
Yosmel Serrano is from Cuba, but now calls KC home.
“The kindness of the people actually is what made me decide to move,” he said.
He loves film but couldn’t find a place in KC that showed movies about Hispanic culture. He met a lot of people who had an interest, though.
“They wanted to learn not only Spanish, but they wanted to learn about the Hispanic cultures,” he said. “They wanted to learn about Cuba.”
So, he opened up a small theater called Selva de los Relojes or “Jungle of Clocks.” It screens mostly Spanish documentaries with English subtitles. For example, there is one about the life and struggles of iconic Cuban ballet dancer Rosario Suarez.
“The idea is to bring films that not only bring the language part, but the knowledge that some people want to get about the culture, about the history of our Hispanic countries,” he said.
Right now, there are only showings on the weekends. Sometimes it’s an empty house on Sundays.
Serrano said he could have opened the theater somewhere like downtown, where there would be more foot traffic, but he wanted to be in the northeast.
It’s been well-received so far.
“I think its brought influence, culture and learning new things to our neighborhood, and I hope I see more of it,” one patron said.
Serrano said many people come to see the films want to learn Spanish. He’s happy to help teach his first language and culture.
“I want to create some healthy environment for entertainment that sometimes they don’t find so easy,” he said.
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