Adria Arjona wants more films to center Latina stories

Adria Arjona Believe in the power of Latina society. “In the worst situations, we know where we can find joy,” she says. It is especially true for her latest role in the Spanish -speaking movie “Los Friagis”, a story of the coming age created by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, the directors of “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” The rising star, known for his roles during the 2022’s “Bride’s Father of the Bride” and 2023’s “Hit Man”, says that at a time when the struggle for correct Latin representation continues, “Los Friis” is exactly the kind of stories we need more of.

The film, which was released on Apple TV on March 28, is inspired by the true story of a tangled Cuban Punk Rock-Sub culture in the 1990s, called Los Friakis (The Freaks), which deliberately injected itself with HIV-infected blood under the island’s AIDS epidemic. It was a desperate attempt to be sent to government-funded sanatoriums, where they were guaranteed a warm bed, enough food to eat during Cuba’s devastating famine and financial crisis, and a place where they could freely listen and play their music-otherwise banned by Cuban poet Fidel Castro.

The film highlights a heartbreaking period in Cuba’s history that is never taught in schools and rarely, if ever, is discussed in addition to Cuban American societies. At the beginning of the 1990s, Cuba experienced severe financial difficulties after the fall of the Soviet Union. The “special period” during Fidel Castro’s reign not just pressed thousands of Cubans to migrate to the United States and risk their lives at sea, but it also forced Cubans who could not flee to take desperate measures to survive. But as dark as this part of Cuba’s history can be, the film also touches on the Cuban people’s inherent resilience and attempts to find joy for a time that felt like literal hell on earth.

“That’s what the movie is all about, and that’s exactly what the filmmakers showed off us,” says Arjona. “Instead of showing our society as violent or showing our society as problematic, they showed our society for what we are, because we have been in some really tough situations, and we always seem to find joy.”

The film follows 18-year-old Gustavo (Eros de la Fuente), who idolizes his older brother Paco (Hector Medina), a punk rocker who is part of Los Friagis and self-imposed himself with HIV blood with his friends as a way to survive the island’s strict dictatoriality and acquiring family. Gustavo never injects himself but gets a doctor to create his medical paperwork so that he can be sent to the sanatorium to join his brother and friends. Together they create their own utopia where they spend their days playing baseball, playing rock music and working together as a society.

With the exception of Arjona, every actor was born and raised in the film in Cuba and had never left the island before filming the film in the Dominican Republic’s capital Santo Domingo.

“They really brought life to this movie and brought life to these characters, and I will only say it because I have no filter, but I should not be in this movie,” she adds. “I am the financing element in the film. If I had not brought along the financing, Maria would have been another actress from Cuba. But that’s not how this industry works.”

Arjona, who is half the Guatemalan and half Puerto Rican, was a deliberate choice of directors and Cuban American producer Phil Lord. Arjona plays Maria, a young divorce that runs the sanatorium operation and mourns the loss of his brother of AIDS.

“I think our stories should be told, and I think our story should be shared,” she says. “Especially a movie like this one that gives voice to artists such as Hector Medina and Eros de la Puente and Pedrito (Pedro Martínez) Y Manuel (Manuel Alejandro Rodriguez), artists who would never have a voice or probably never could be in a Hollywood film because they live in a communist country.”

At a time when Hollywood still has a way to go in terms of correct and positive representation and Dei -initiatives are threatened by our current administration, “Los Friagis” highlights the importance of not only bringing Cuba’s history to the surface but proves why more Latin stories must be told. In a country where many remain unaware of Latin American history, we need more films based on real events. We cannot really understand or empathize with a community struggles without knowing what led them where they are today.

In “Los Friagis”, the theme that reason is mostly the power of society – how it maintains our spirit and helps us to stick to hope, even in the darkest moments.

Another powerful aspect of the film is that it is entirely on Spanish-not just adds this to authenticity, but it also makes the story more accessible to Spanish-speaking audiences.

“We are the biggest movie guests, right? It is important to tell our stories in our language, and the language is such a big part of the story that it makes it more authentic,” says Arjona, referring to Latina society. “I don’t get many opportunities to act in my own language and when I do it it is really exciting because I am so used to acting in English, it almost feels like I learn to do it again because Spanish is such a romantic language … It is really liberating to speak my own language.”

As Latina actress in Hollywood, Arjona not only wants to see more movies centering Latin stories, but she always wants to be able to see more Latin actors to be able to take on a series of roles over genres that not only center their identity.

“I think we’ve seen it a little more over the years,” Arjona says about an accurate, positive and non-stereotypical representation of Latin in film. “But being able to jump within genres and also be able to jump in cultures … It is not questioned when a white male or female actor who is American plays a British character. It is okay. And I would like to see that it happens a little more (with us). I would love to be for a period. I want to see more Latin Americans in period.

Johanna Ferreira is the content director of PS Juntos. With more than ten years of experience, Johanna focuses on how intersectional identities are a central part of Latin culture. Previously, she spent close to three years as vice editor at Hiplatina, and she has freelanced for many stores including Refinery29, Oprah Magazine, Allure, Instyle and Well+Good. She has also moderated and spoken in many panels about Latin identity.