Los Angeles (AFP)

Long before becoming a world star with "Hamilton", Lin-Manuel Miranda had already seduced Broadway with "In the Heights", a musical bathed in Latin pop and salsa paying tribute to the New York neighborhood where the artist had grown up. .

The adaptation of this show to the big screen, which will be released on Thursday in the United States and on June 23 in France under the title "From where we come", is one of the rare works of a major Hollywood studio ( Warner Bros. in this case) to feature Latin American stories and stars.

"It means a lot and I think it's the start of a Latin wave that I hope will pave the way for other films like this," Mexican actress Melissa Barrera told AFP. .

“As soon as they started recruiting for this film, I said to myself + damn, there aren't a lot of films that give us that springboard, so everyone is going to want to audition +,” she recalls.

Becoming famous thanks to her roles in Mexican telenovelas, Melissa Barrera landed the role of Vanessa, an aspiring stylist who aspires to leave the "barrio" of Washington Heights, at the northern tip of Manhattan, for the chic world of new fashion. -Yorkese.

The man she loves is Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), a neighborhood boutique owner who dreams of rebuilding his father's beach bar in the Dominican Republic, while their Puerto Rican friend Nina (Leslie Grace) has managed to get in. in the prestigious California University of Stanford but yearns for his neighborhood.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent and has a long history of promoting his community in the entertainment world, wrote the first version of "In The Heights" when he was still a student.

The musical had been staged on Broadway in 2008, making a splash with thirteen Tony Award nominations and paving the way for the success of "Hamilton", dedicated to Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States.

In "Where We Come From", Lin-Manuel Miranda himself plays a small role, that of a traditional ice cream seller, and has entrusted the production of the film to Jon M. Chu ("Crazy Rich Asians" ).

Melissa Barrera says she was intimidated by this collaboration with the creator of a global success like Hamilton.

"The pressure was there. + I want to do this well, I want to do the best I can for Jon and Lin ... and the whole" Latino community, "she explained.

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While 18.5% of the population of the United States is considered "Hispanic", actors of Latin American origin accounted for only 5.4% of the leading roles last year, according to a study on diversity in Hollywood achieved annually by UCLA University.

- "Combat" -

The film adaptation of the musical is essentially filmed on the colorful streets of Washington Heights, just a few blocks from where Lin-Manuel Miranda grew up.

But the places have changed since his childhood and the experts in charge of spotting had to deal with the many restaurant chains or supermarkets, sometimes redecorating buildings with the help of artisan signs and awnings to give a more authentic atmosphere to the place. district.

“Where We Come From” doesn't just celebrate the food, music and traditions that rocked Miranda's youth.

Unlike the musical, the film also follows Nina in demonstrations in support of the "dreamers", these many migrants who arrived illegally in the United States when they were still only children.

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The film was initially to be released under the presidency of Donald Trump, whose migration policy targeted these "dreamers" in particular, but the pandemic has upset the schedule.

"It's a story that is rarely told, a fight that is rarely told," said Leslie Grace, whose character Nina herself struggles to adjust to her elite West Coast university.

Doubt of oneself is "a universal feeling that we all feel, whether it is about the representation (of minorities) or of + dreamers +", she assures us.

© 2021 AFP