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You Could Really Help NALIP by Posting Your Photo and Story by April 25!
Actor and writer Nino Alicea is searching for his star in the entertainment world.
His achievements are inspiring.
Go to www.espiritudeprogresolatino.org
Upload your picture, share your story of progress.
 
The brands that believe in you and celebrate your success are donating up to $75,000 to NALIP and other organizations that promote a better future for our families. Participate by including your photos and testimonials and help us reach our goal. There's no limit to the number of photos or stories an individual can upload, and everyone is invited to submit multiple times to generate maximum funds for NALIP. The program will close in May 2008, highlighted by an exhibit showcasing a mosaic of the submitted photos, including yours!
Share your spirit. When you include your pictures and stories…we all progress!
www.espiritudeprogresolatino.org
 A Hispanic Hit at the Cineplex
By REBECCA WINTERS KEEGAN
Time Magazine (Mar. 28, 2008)
The No. 1 movie last weekend at Los Angeles' Landmark Pavilion theater, an art-house mecca, was the same as the one that drew the biggest crowds at the Block Orange, a 30-screen AMC theater in a sprawling Orange County shopping mall: a tiny, Spanish-language sleeper called Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna). A kind of Finding Nemo of border politics, Under the Same Moon follows a nine-year-old boy's travels from Mexico to the U.S. to reunite with his mother, an illegal immigrant who cleans houses in Los Angeles.
The Fox Searchlight/Weinstein Co. picture connected with both Hispanic and indie film audiences, earning $2.6 million, the highest opening weekend ever for a Spanish-language film in the U.S. Studios have long known Hispanic crowds will show up for their comedies and animated films. But the success of Under the Same Moon suggests the growing Latino moviegoing audience is under-served when it comes to films that tell their own stories.
"This is an audience that has yet to be tapped into," says America Ferrera, the Ugly Betty star who has a small role as a U.S.-born college student who takes Mexican children across the border. "Yes, they're in line for Spider-Man 3. But they're responding to a story that speaks truly to their experience."
Hollywood has good reason to court the Hispanic audience. Latinos buy more movie tickets per person than any other segment of the U.S. population. The median age of Hispanics in the U.S. is 27.4, nearly 10 years younger than the U.S as a whole, putting them squarely in the date-night demographic. "Studios are becoming more open to listening," says Ivette Rodriguez, president of American Entertainment Marketing, a firm specializing in marketing to the U.S. Latino consumer.
Some studios initially underestimated the diversity of the Latin market. "We talk about the Latino community as a monolith," says Nancy Utley, chief operating officer of Fox Searchlight. "But it's people from all different countries who've been here for all different lengths of time and some are English dominant and some are Spanish dominant."
Under the Same Moon has a character for almost everyone with some part in the Hispanic immigrant story. There's the boy, spunky Carlito (Adrian Alonso), separated from his parents by the border; the mother, Rosario; a disillusioned recent illegal played by telenovela star Kate del Castillo; Ferrera's second- or third- generation college student; a drifter Carlito meets picking fruit; a security guard with a green card and a shiny truck who courts Rosario; and the list goes on. "It speaks about life on both borders, why people feel the need to come over and what it's like for people while they're here," says Ferrera. "It speaks honestly about life in this country as an immigrant and that it never gets easy."
The movie has plenty of familiar faces and voices for Latin audiences. Ubiquitous L.A. disc jockey El Cucuy blares on the alarm clock, the rock group Kinky sings the corrido "Superman es Ilegal," and the band Los Tigres del Norte pick up a hitchhiking Carlito.
Based on focus group reactions, Utley knew she had a movie Hispanic audiences would respond to. Some people were even crying at the TV commercials, she says. "They said, 'I've never seen myself on screen before.'"
In addition to advertising in the Hispanic media, Fox Searchlight launched a grass roots marketing campaign. The company partnered with Jarritos, a Mexican soda drink, to host 55 screenings in 11 cities, hit more than 20 film festivals and gave out 30,000 phone cards with the film on them, telling audiences that if they liked the movie, call someone and tell them about it. They also screened the film for the Congressional Hispanic caucus, Hispanic church leader Sam Rodriguez and some service workers' unions.
The result was that Under the Same Moon surpassed the previous record for a Spanish-language movie, Ladron Que Roba a Ladron, by nearly $1 million, despite opening on fewer screens. This weekend the movie will expand from 266 screens to 400 before going wider still on April 4.
 Call for Entries: Long Island Latino International Film Festival
Early deadline April 20th, 2008
The Long Island Latino International Film Festival is inviting filmmakers to submit films by or about Latinos for the opportunity to be screened. We offer a wide selection of some of todays most original programming of independent films for our viewing audience. We seek film submissions domestically as well as internationally.
Now in our 4th year we will offer a new assembly of selected Latino films showcasing the works of up incoming and established filmmakers. We consider all forms: feature narrative, short films, documentary and experimental shorts. All projects must have been completed by no earlier than 2006. Does your film have a story waiting to be told? Does your film demonstrate an abundance of creative talent? If so we encourage you to submit your film for consideration. All short films will automatically enter the 2008 Mezcla Short Film Competition.
For more information and to apply, go to: www.liliff.com
Early Deadline: April 20th
Deadline: June 12th
LILIFF 2008 is hosted by Mezcla Media Market, Inc. We cannot guarantee a submission to the festival if the material is received after the deadline. Please email us for further questions to: info@liliff.com
 Call for Submissions: Inernational Film Festival and Human Rights
My name is Carolina Lozano and I am writing from ACTES (Associaciltural Testimoni Social) in Spain. We are a cultural asociation that organizes the International Film Festival and Human Rights from 2005. Throughout the years, it's been taken to some places of Spain (Alicante, Madrid, Alcoy) and Latin America (Mexico DF, Guatemala, Argentina).
Nowadays, we are preparing the program for the next Festival that will take place in October 2008. It would be fantastic if you can send us all the information about the films and documentaries related to Human Rights that you either produce or distribute.
The subjects we tackle are the following:
- The woman. Domestic violence, prostitution, labour equality and so on.
- Freedom of speech
- Immigration
- Children. School maltreatments, childlike explotation, soldier children.
- Health. Contamination, lack of food, poverty.
- Armed conflicts.
- Prisons. Death penalty, humans rights' violations
- Environment
- Work. Labour exploitation, unemployment, harassment.
- Imperialism and globalisation.
- Minority groups.
If you want to send us graphic material or films in DVD format in order to start the selection process, our postal address is:
ACTES MUESTRA CINE
Avda. Constitucium 6 2D
03002 Alicante (Spain)
Futher details, You can see our Website: www.muestraderechoshumanos.org
Or send an email to info@muestraderechoshumanos.org
Thank you very much. We are looking forwards to hearing from you.
 Call for Entries: Reel Rasquache U.S. Latino Film Festival
Deadline: April 25, 2008
The 5th annual Reel Rasquache Film Festival will take place on the weekend of May 30, 31, June 1, 2008 at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles. Filmmakers are invited to submit films that celebrate the rich diversity of Latino experiences in the U.S. on all topics and in all genres - animation, documentary, experimental, features, and shorts. Reel Rasquache is accepting film submissions through April 25th.
For more information please visit the website at: www.reelrasquache.org
 Free NATPE Web Seminar: The Transition to Digital
In less than 348 days, U.S. television stations will complete their transition to an all digital system. And with the transition comes great potential to increase breadth and capacity of program and service offerings. Broadcasters, MSO's, advertisers and programmers across all platforms are scrambling to figure out how their business will change on February 17, 2009. How will their bottom line be impacted? What additional programs and services can they monetize? What can they do now to benefit in ten months?
Join Bill Hague of Frank N. Magid Associates, Angie Kucharski of CBS Television Stations and Dan Hsieh, Consultant, Open Mobile Video Coalition, in a discussion outlining the issues and opportunities of the coming digital transition and the latest consumer research on the subject.
April 03, 2008
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM ((GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Click here to register online
(If you are a Safari user, in order to register, please use another browser or call 310.453.4440 and we'll register you)
 Online Workshop: Maneuvering Film Festivals
APRIL 9 - APRIL 30, 2008
taught by the authors of
"I Liked It, Didn't Love It: Screenplay Development from the Inside Out"
by Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis
Back by popular demand, Edwards and Skerbelis present "Maneuvering Film Festivals" a 4-week online course that provides the strategy needed to get the most out of the 3,000 film festivals around the world and advance your film career. In order to have success at marketing yourself at the many film festivals available, you need to have the tools. This course will provide valuable tips and resources to help you organize and put together the necessary materials needed to have a productive and beneficial festival experience.
"Maneuvering Film Festivals" will begin its encore online workshop on April 9th.
The cost for this 4-week workshop is $250 and will cover such topics as:
* Targeting the right Film Festivals for your film;
* What you need to know when submitting your film;
* Creating a promotional strategy;
* Making the Festival circuit work for you.
All ESE FILM WORKSHOPS ONLINE courses have one-on-one interface with Edwards and Skerbelis! Therefore, students have ongoing access to these two industry professionals for the length of the courses, which usually runs 4 to 6 weeks each. ESE provides professional instruction in film without leaving your home. Offering user-friendly web access, students need only know how to "click, type, download and read."
For more information or to register for ESE Film Workshops Online courses visit www.esentertainment.net or register at the Writers Store by calling one of their friendly product consultants at (800) 272-8927or online at www.writerstore.com
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