On Saturday, September 23rd, 2023 NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) partnered to present Latinx and Hispanic Cinema as part of the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival's InFocus initiative. The Festival was held in Hollywood at the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, Linwood Dunn Theater.
The two-day program line-up consisted of four short film programs with audience Q&A sessions and four live panels, including Latinos as Heroes: In Conversation with Robert Rodriguez. The panel discussed the importance of showcasing the Latinx community as heroes, particularly in the Spy Kids franchise, and did a dive deep into the storytelling that aims to inspire a new generation of young heroes. Other panels included A Conversation with Film Festival Programmers featuring Sundance Film Festival curators Ana Souza and Diana Sánchez Maciel, Documentary Filmmaking with Director Rodrigo Reyes, whose latest film Sansón and Me had its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and made its broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens in September 2023, and finally Creating a Feature Film with The Brazilian Filmmakers Collective, which featured three award-winning Brazilian filmmakers who premiered their films at renowned festivals such as Sundance and SXSW.
The Festival showcased 24 short films from narrative live action to documentary and animated film. These 24 projects represented a dozen countries including São Paulo (Brazil), the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Spain, Venezuela and the United States.Among the selections were the world premieres of five new short films by emerging talent from São Paulo, Brazil, the US premiere of Piedra Dura by Emmy® and Student Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and NFMLA alum Rommel Villa, and writer-director Carlos Segundo's Big Bang, which premiered in Locarno. The 2023 lineup also included Miguel Angel Caballero's The Ballad of Tita and the Machines, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Gabriela Ortega's Beautiful, FL. Both Caballero and Ortega were inaugural Academy Film Accelerator program fellows and previous Best of NFMLA Award nominees. Ortega won the title of NFMLA's Best New Filmmaker in 2022.
NFMLA and the Academy brought together industry professionals, executives and creatives to support the programmed filmmakers and projects. Those who took part in the 2023 edition include Ana Souza at Sundance Institute, Carolina Garcia at Netflix, Danielle Gasher at Gravitas Ventures, Diamond McNeil at Warner Bros., Diego Nájera at Participant, DGA Award winning filmmaker Felipe Vargas, Graciela Garcia at Cinetic Media, Ivana Martinez at VERVE Talent & Literary Agency, Joan Wai at the Academy, Lauren Lopez de Victoria at BORDERLESS, Libeth Morales at A24, Nick Romano at 18hz, Primos Writer/Director Peter Murrieta. Sarah Al-Qatou at HOORAE and Tony Gil at Redefine Entertainment, among others.
Program Moderators included Film Journalist Carlos Aguilar, Content Creator Emily Uribe, Entertainment Journalist Max Cea, Ben Lopez at L21 Consulting, Diana Luna at NALIP, Ana Souza at Sundance Institute and Steven Vargas at the LA Times.
Joining the festivities were Academic Delegations from The Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University (ASU), ArtCenter College of Design, CalArts Center for New Performance, California State University | Long Beach (CSULB), Emerson College Los Angeles, Mount Saint Mary’s University Los Angeles and Occidental College.
We were also joined by Community Partners from Latinx in Animation, Latino Filmmakers Network, Humanitas, Brazilian Filmmakers Collective, Latino Film Institute, NALIP, and Nosotros.
The festival was made possible with support from FilmLA, El Tesoro Tequila, UCLA Extension Writers' Program, Banc of California, Golden Globe Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, Comcast NBCUniversal and NBCU Launch, NBCU Academy, Easterseals of Southern California, MUBI, DGCINE, SPCine, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, LA City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Partners, Birns and Sawyer, STARZ, HUB Insurance, Scriptation, the Walt Disney Studios, the MBS Group and more!
To learn more about NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), please visit: www.NFMLA.org
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NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) is an LA based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated towards advancing the careers of emerging independent filmmakers and preserving Los Angeles’s legacy as a mecca for international film culture and filmmaking.
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