How Latin Music & Film Are Joining Forces to Tell Authentic Stories: ‘Everyone Wants to Put Us in a Box’

The convergence of film and music as powerful vehicles for cultural storytelling took center stage on Tuesday (Oct. 21) at Billboard Latin Music Week 2025.

Presented by Sony Pictures, Sony Music Latin, and Rancho Humilde, the “Shaping the Future of Film and Music” panel at the Fillmore Miami Beach brought together industry leaders Afo Verde (chairman and CEO, Sony Music Latin Iberia), Jimmy Humilde (CEO and founder, Rancho Humilde), and Sanford Panitch (president, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group). Moderated by Billboard’s Leila Cobo, the panel unpacked strategies and collaborations between music and cinema that highlight cultural movements and elevate underrepresented communities.

For Humilde, the explosive growth of Rancho Humilde during the pandemic fueled the idea of creating a platform for storytelling through film. “When COVID happened, my business partner Jay Dee [of Herencia de Patrones] and I sat there coming up with what’s next,” he said. “The world stopped — that’s when Rancho Humilde was born. [We went] from millions to hundreds of millions, where everyone was hearing what we were doing, but no one really understood our culture.” This realization set the stage for Rancho Humilde’s entry into filmmaking.

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Humilde envisioned this as a celebration of Mexican-American culture, not confined to any traditional genre or region. “Everyone wants to put us in a box, in a space that we can’t grow out of. But we’re saying, no, this is the time. This has been done in pop, hip-hop, rap, in films like Boyz n the Hood and Friday with Ice Cube. Now we need to have it in Latin music.”

“Hollywood has had an incredible history of transferring the electricity of an artist to an actor,” Panitch remarked. “Latino audiences make up 30 to 40% of the box office on every movie, which reflects the incredible opportunity to tell fresh, authentic stories that resonate.” Humilde added, “The big percentage of moviegoers are Latinos. Thank God that the majority are Mexican Americans, 65% in the U.S. — people we need to serve. Not just Mexicans, but all Latinos, period.”

Afo Verde highlighted how music and cinema represent a natural evolution of artists’ creative expressions. “In the ’50s, [artists] needed to sing in recording studios; in the ’60s, they had to play instruments; in the ’70s, they learned how to tour; in the ’80s, the [music] video came out; and later, it was social media. It’s common to ask how things evolve, and now, it’s filmmaking. Not every artist will become an incredible actor, [but exploring film] is a great outlet for creativity and reaching audiences in new ways.”

Latin Music Week coincides with the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards, set to air Thursday, Oct. 23, on Telemundo and Peacock.