Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON FEBRUARY 14, 2005
Press Contact: Lourdes Ortega, Tel: 310.316.3313 Email: lourdes@ortegapr.com

The National Association of Latino Independent Producers’ Sixth Annual Conference in Huntington Beach, CA, March 3-6 Looks at What’s Happened to the Latino Wave in Main Stream Media

Mark Gill, President of Warner Independent Pictures and Robert J. Dowling, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter are scheduled to provide keynotes; Actress Wanda de Jesus and Comedian Joey Medina to Host the Gala Awards Dinner on March 5

Los Angeles, CA. The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (www.nalip.org) looks at what’s happened to the Latino Wave in mainstream American media when it convenes its sixth annual conference in Huntington Beach, CA in March. The national gathering of Latino/a film, television and documentary makers, funders and execs will meet at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, March 3-6. They will weigh the successes of Latino/a creative visions and voices, while investigating the roadblocks to diversity, access, executive representation and employment. Themed “Catch the Latino Wave,” the Conference will look at the content in today’s film and television landscape while addressing the market issues and financial barriers that Latino producers, directors and writers face in trying to become part of the indie and industry creative workforce.

Presented by NALIP, the National Latino Media Coalition, Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE: TWX), and its HBO division, the Conference will include keynote speakers Mark Gill, President of Warner Independent Pictures and Robert J. Dowling, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht will introduce Mr. Gill and welcome the Conference participants as a presenting sponsor for the second year. Award-winning actress Wanda de Jesus and popular comedian Joey Medina host NALIP’s Gala Awards evening on Saturday, March 5.

NALIP Chairwoman Frances Negrón-Muntaner states, “We are pleased to have Mark and Robert speak to our members at our annual Conference and look forward to increased dialogue between the Latino independent film community and the studios. The presence of Joey and Wanda is sure to entertain our six hundred plus participants and guests, and they also serve as a testimony to the wealth of Latino talent. It's exciting to have talented executives and performers support our organization.”

Time Warner and HBO have supported NALIP in its professional development efforts and its mission of media diversity since NALIP’s first Conference in San Francisco, 1999. They partnered as presenting sponsors in 2004 at the Fifth National Conference, and helped NALIP double the size of its meeting to over 500 filmmakers, while providing executives as speakers and instructors that has developed relationships between Latino/a writers, producers and directors, and the Time Warner companies.

"Through our businesses, we are committed to fostering opportunity for creative voices to be heard," says Lisa Quiroz, Time Warner, Vice President/Corporate Responsibility. "Our association with NALIP is a part of that commitment and we salute the organization for the work it does to advance Latino film and media arts."

Mark Gill is President of Warner Independent Pictures, where he oversees the development, production, acquisition, marketing and distribution of the company's slate of films, among them BEFORE SUNSET starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT from the director and star of AMELIE (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou); and the upcoming THE JACKET, a psychological thriller starring Adrien Brody, Kiera Knightley, and Jennifer Jason Leigh; A SCANNER DARKLY starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder; and THE PAINTED VEIL based on the classic W. Somerset Maugham novel, starring Edward Norton.

He joined Warner Independent from Stratus Film Co. Prior to Stratus, Gill spent eight years at Miramax Films, where he was President of Miramax/L.A.

CONFERENCE VI AGENDA
This year’s Conference is co-chaired by AIVF Executive Director Bienvenida Matias and Si TV President Jeff Valdez. Some confirmed industry professionals scheduled to participate in panel sessions include Jackie Glover (HBO), David Ortiz (Warner Bros.), Darlene Camaano (VOY), Julissa Garcia (WMA), Pancho Mansfield (Showtime), Edy Mendoza (CBS), Margaret Cohen (Nickelodeon), Zola Mazareki (Fox Searchlight), Jessy Terrero (SOUL PLANE), Dennis Leoni (Showtime’s “Resurrection Blvd”), Cara Mertes (P.O.V.), Angela Palmer (CPB), Gustavo Sagastume (PBS), Richard Saiz (ITVS), Peter Goldwyn (Samuel Goldwyn Co.), Vanessa Arteaga (Wellspring), Jose Martinez Jr. (Palm Pictures), documentary makers Ray Telles & Rick Tejada-Flores (RACE IS THE PLACE) and internationally renowned motivational speaker and negotiations instructor Maria Marin (Latina Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 by the Latin Business Association). A full list of participants is listed on the website (www.nalip.org) under Conference VI.

NALIP sessions will feature topics that reflect the changing landscape in today’s entertainment environment such as: “Stories that Broke the Rules: Social Change Documentaries”; “Hip Hop to Hollywood: Stepping Stones from a Music Video Career”; “Producing for Spanish Language Television”; and “Technologies Enabling Transformation of Entertainment”. Also on the agenda are “Conversations with…,” sessions with this year’s NALIP honorees Lourdes Portillo and Jeff Valdez. Guest journalists from various trade publications will moderate the sessions.

The musical guest scheduled to kick-off the Conference at the opening night reception on Thursday, March 3 is the 100.3 fm radio DJ Eric Cubiche. Cubiche has traveled the globe covering events such as The Grammy’s American Music Awards, Billboard Awards, The Sydney 2000 Olympics, and the bilingual Latin Grammy Awards. He now works on Sí TV’s new music show “Across the Hall”.

Award-winning actress Wanda de Jesus and comedic talent Joey Medina take the microphone to host the Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, March 5. Ms. de Jesus has been seen recently on the hit television sensation, “CSI” as Detective Adell Sevilla. She also starred in BLOOD WORK, GHOSTS OF MARS, and FLAWLESS, as well as the Masterpiece Theatre premiere “Almost a Woman,” which told the touching true story of a Puerto Rican girl who follows her mother to New York City and grows to be a great writer.

Gala Awards co-host Joey Medina, a Puerto Rican who was born and raised in the Bronx, New York is one of the funniest stand-up comedians in the country today and is ranked as one of the top 10 Latin comedians in the country. He is also a veteran of 16 television shows from A&E’s “Evening at the Improv” to “The Roseanne Show.” In 1996 Joey won the “Master’s Video Comedian of the Year Award.” In 1998, Medina released his award winning comedy album “Below the Belt.”

The celebrated and groundbreaking East Los Angeles ensemble, Quetzal, will rock the house with their melodies during the Gala Awards.

During the Gala Awards dinner, NALIP will honor Raul Yzaguirre (NCLR) with the Lifetime Achievement in Advocacy Award; documentary filmmaker Lourdes Portillo (SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA) with the Lifetime Achievement in Producing Award; and Jeff Valdez (SíTV) with the Outstanding Achievement in Producing Award.

ABOUT THE HONOREES
Raul Yzaguirre is one of the most widely recognized leaders in the Latino community. His involvement in many critical legislative and public policy issues of the last three decades has made him a key national player on behalf of Hispanic Americans.

A lifelong community activist, Mr.Yzaguirre was born in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. He began his civil rights career at the age of 15 when he organized the American G.I. Forum Juniors, an auxiliary of the American G.I. Forum. After graduating from high school, Mr. Yzaguirre served four years in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps. In 1964, he founded NOMAS, the National Organization for Mexican American Services. A proposal he wrote for NOMAS led to the creation of what is now NCLR.

Throughout his 30 years as president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, Raul Yzaguirre has helped to unite the Hispanic community's many disparate factions and revolutionize America's cultural and political landscape.

After receiving his B.S. from George Washington University, Mr.Yzaguirre became a program analyst at the Migrant Division of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). In 1969, Mr.Yzaguirre founded Interstate Research Associates (IRA), the first Mexican American research association, which he built into a multimillion-dollar non-profit consulting firm.

In 2004, he stepped down as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR); however, he continues his lifelong mission to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

Lourdes Portillo is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Ms. Portillo’s films have focused on the search for Latino identity. She has worked in a richly varied range of forms, from television documentary to satirical video-film collage. The film THE MOTHERS OF PLAZA DE MAYO was a pivotal film in Portillo’s career as it was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Documentary in 1985. Her next film, LA OFRENDA: THE DAYS OF THE DEAD was completed in 1989 and greeted with widespread critical acclaim. This film marks Portillo’s most serious attempt to date to challenge the notion that, as she says, “Documentary is always associated with injustice.”

SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA (Missing Young Woman) tells the story of the hundreds of kidnapped, raped and murdered young women of Juárez, Mexico. The broadcast premiere of the film was seen on PBS’ P.O.V series and has garnered rave reviews since its television premiere and theatrical release, plus more than twenty awards in the United States and internationally. The film received the Sundance Special Jury Award, and Mexico’s prestigious Ariel Award for Best Documentary.

Jeff Valdez realized his vision by launching Sí TV in February 2004 as the first national English-language network targeting Latinos. The network features several original shows including, “The Rub”, “Across the Hall”, and “Urban Jungle” as well as numerous acquired programs including “American Family” on PBS and “Resurrection Blvd” on Showtime.

As Co-Founder and Chairman of SíTV, Mr. Valdez was one of the first to recognize that Latinos wanted to see themselves on English-language television. He began his TV career by creating, hosting and producing the local Los Angeles TV series “Comedy Compadres”, leading the Los Angeles Times to dub him “the Ed Sullivan of Latino talent.” In 1996 Mr. Valdez joined forces with venture capitalist Bruce Barshop and started the San Antonio-based Latino Laugh Festival, a star-studded multi-day event that was soon picked up by Showtime.

NALIP ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Since its inception in 1999, NALIP has emerged as the premiere Latino media organization addressing the most underrepresented and largest ethnic minority in the country. NALIP has four national initiatives:

• The National Conference – Catching the Latino Wave is the sixth such event since 1999. This year the Conference expands to include a new Latino Media Market, selecting top film, television and documentary projects for targeted one-on-one meetings with executives, representatives and funders in order to facilitate more business deals and steps to production.
  
  
• The Latino Writer's Lab -- The third lab is presented in collaboration with the Writer's Guild of America East and the New York Latino International Film Festival in New York City in May, with a second session schedules for Santa Monica in September. This 7-day intensive program attracts Latino/a film and television writers from around the country.  The curriculum advances their screenplays through work on craft, as well as through direct mentoring; the program also introduces writers to agents, managers, producers and funders in order to expand their professional network and further their projects and careers.
  
  
• Latino Producers AcademyTM – Feature, television and documentary attend this seven-day intensive seminar in Tucson, Arizona by special selection and invitation. Producer/director teams participate in seminars on advanced professional skills development and in-depth mentoring that support all aspects of their project development, production skills and marketing understanding as instructed by top industry professionals.  A repertory company of Latino/a actors is also assembled, to perform staged readings of first acts and shorts each evening, which further advance filmmaker's projects.  Presented in association with the UCLA Film and Television Professional Certificate Program and the University of Arizona Media Arts Department, the third LPA will be held in August 2005.
  
  
• Latino Media Resource Guide™ – A printed directory of Latino/a writers, directors, producers, crew members, executives and other professionals, including their contact and credit information, plus deadlines for diversity initiatives, film schools, and funding opportunities, distribution companies and Hispanic American films listing. This book is provided free to members, as well as to all studios, networks, production companies and agents in order to enhance employment and build community.  The database is also available and updatable online, along with additional resources, links, and connections.  The second edition will be available at Conference VI.

In addition, NALIP continues to provide regional workshops that include grant-writing and proposal-writing seminars in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Antonio, San Jose, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Other regional programs include narrative writing and producing workshops, networking events and mentoring.

ABOUT NALIP
Founded in 1999 by a group of Latino producers, educators and media activists, NALIP’s mission is to promote the advancement, development and funding of Latino and Latina film and media arts in all genres.

NALIP is committed to improving access and opportunities for Latino/as at all points in the media production pipeline, including the training of our next generation of media makers, and the support of emerging and mid-career professionals. It is a national organization of industry, independent and community producers dedicated to increasing the quality and quantity of images by, for and about Latinos in the media.

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