MAD HOT BALLROOM proved to be the perfect vehicle for first time feature filmmaker Marilyn Agrelo’s directorial debut. With over 15 years of experience in the world of filmmaking and production, she jumped at the chance to create this critically acclaimed film with her friend, writer/producer Amy Sewell, that would be a love poem to New York, while also delving into the amazing contrasts being offered by the characters in the story.
Born in Cuba, Agrelo came to the United States with her parents and three siblings at the age of 2 years old. Growing up in New York in a family that was culturally different than those of her peers shaped an early awareness of human themes which she continues to explore through her work. It was this sensibility that distanced MAD HOT BALLROOM from other films to make it the success it has become. Far from being a movie just about kids doing ballroom dancing, the film represents a poignant, humorous and uplifting window into humanity, with its myriad points of view and its realities and dreams. Critics and audiences have felt the same way about Agrelo and the film. A surprise box office hit in the summer of 2005, this film took in $8 million dollars which placed it at #7 in the “Top Ten All Time Box Office Documentary” films list. MAD HOT BALLROOM enjoyed a theatrical run of over 24 weeks in theatres - a feat unheard of for documentary films.
Prior to MAD HOT BALLROOM, Agrelo worked on dramatic shorts (recently SMASH THE KITTY), fund raising films, and has developed interactive museum installations. Another non-fiction past work for Agrelo is THE ORBIS STORY, a short film about an international humanitarian project. She continues her research and filming on a very personal project entitled US AND THEM. This film is a documentary feature about her divided family and their contrasting truths and political beliefs. It is being filmed in both the United States and Cuba.
Future projects include PECK, a feature film about a teenage boy and his journey for self-realization. PECK is scheduled to shoot in the summer of 2006.
MAD HOT BALLROOM allowed Agrelo to connect with an amazing group of talented Latino-American kids underscoring her own cultural pride as a Cuban American raised in New York City making a living as an artist. She lives with her boyfriend, filmmaker Brian David Cange and their two cats in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Sergio Agúero was Executive Producer of the acclaimed Alfonso Cuaron film, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN. A former senior executive at Trimark, his credits also include LET THE DEVIL WEAR BLACK and PRINCESAS. Along with Mexican entrepreneur/producer Jorge Vergara, he formed Apuesta Pictures to produce mainstream film and TV productions with a Latino sensibility. Currently, he is in pre-production on MOSTLY MARTHA with director Scott Hicks (SHINE).
Maria Agui Carter is an independent filmmaker, founder of Iguana Films, and member of the Boston-based Filmmaker’s Collaborative. Over a dozen of Carter’s long-form documentaries have aired on PBS. A native of Ecuador and a 1987 graduate of Harvard where she studied filmmaking and anthropology, Carter started in television producing for the WGBH Latino documentary series La Plaza. She moved to the National Productions department of WGBH to produce for the prime-time PBS series CULTURE SHOCK, a historical four hour mini-series on the relationship between art, morality, and society, nominated for best series by the International Documentary Association. She has since produced other documentaries for PBS, including Rumble Over West Side Story, and Tango: Duel and Dance.
Carter has extensive experience shooting in Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. She has completed several dozen shorts in Spanish for the educational market distributed by Heinle and Heinle and Prentiss Hall. She has been a Harvard University Warren Fellow in American Studies, and a Rockefeller Fellow at Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies. She is currently in production on REBEL, a film about a woman, a myth, and the politics of national memory. REBEL is supported by grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and Latino Public Broadcasting.
Jorge Aguirre was Executive Producer and head writer for SíTV’s “Circumsized Cinema,” a comedy series in which Mexican B-movies were given an extreme makeover. He wrote Nickelodeon’s “Go Diego! Go!” Previously, he directed the PBS national series, “History Detectives.” In 2002, Aguirre was commissioned by Latino Public Broadcasting to produce the interstitial, “Is My Neighbor Latino?” which won the Diversity Award at the Media That Matters Film Festival. His short films have been featured at the Guggenheim Museum, Smithsonian Institute, the Sundance Channel and other public venues. In 2001, he was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.
Director Luis Aira's credits include Coca Cola, Sprite, Carl's Jr., Sears, Ikea, and John Kerry for President and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He's honored with Clio, Addy, Belding and Latino Marketing Awards.
Film & Screenplay Credits: Chapter X, Best Experimental Film Award, L.A. International Film Expo, Girl in 3D, Cinemavault Releasing, Best Feature Award Indiefest Chicago, Best Thriller NYIIFV Festival. Somewhere an IFFF Screenplay Winner, Kemosabe a Cinequest Screenplay Competition Finalist. Aira's production company Ofrenda, Inc. produces features, commercials, music videos and television.
Cruz Angeles is an NYU film graduate and winner of the 2006 Sundance/NHK Filmmakers Award. He was selected as a fellow for the 2005 Sundance Institute Screenwriter’s and Filmmaker’s Lab with his feature script, DON'T LET ME DROWN. In 2001, Cruz won a Director’s Guild of America Award for Best Latino Student Filmmaker for his short ABUELA'S REVOLT. He is currently in post-production on, THE NEGATIVE, a short psychological thriller based on the folklore that photographs steal your soul.
Born in Mexico City, celebrated filmmaker, artist and musician, Sergio Arau was the writer/producer/director of the hit feature film A Day Without a Mexican.
The controversial film was the subject of national media attention for both its topic and provocative marketing campaign. A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN was theatrically released and audience acceptance exceeded expectations in the box office. ADWAM went on to become 2004’s number 1 box office hit in Mexico, and has sold 500,000 DVD's in the US.
A recognized visual artist and political cartoonist, Sergio won the Coral De Plata award in Havana with his animated short “El Muro”(2001.)
In 1983, Sergio formed Botellita De Jerez, a group that fused humor and traditional Mexican music with rock'n'roll. He is presently working on Plan B - a mockumentary based on his group considered the precursor of the “Rock-en' Español” movement.
In 1998, Sergio won the MTV Award for directing Café Tacuba's “Alarmala De Tos”. Sergio received his MFA in Film Studies at CUEC in Mexico City.
Actor-Writer-Producer, Yareli Arizmendi recently finished work on the upcoming Richard Linklater film based on the book FAST FOOD NATION.
In 2004, Yareli co-wrote the screenplay A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN with her director/musician husband Sergio Arau (and Sergio Guerrero), and played the lead role of “Lila Rodriguez”. Audience acceptance exceeded expectations in the box office and in the word-of-mouth that followed. ADWAM went on to become a DVD rental-dream, bringing in 12.9 million dollars in the first month and half of its US release.
Well known for her role as "Rosaura" in Alfonso Arau’s LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, Yareli has regularly works on American films and TV. Recent guest star appearances include HOUSE, LAX, 24, SIX FEET UNDER, THE AGENCY, THREAT MATRIX, NOTHING SACRED, and NYPD BLUE.Her one-woman show -- NOSTALGIA MALDITA: 1-900-MEXICO, was featured on PBS’ Heritage series.
Born in Mexico City, Yareli has resided in California since 1983. She received her BA in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego and her MFA in Theater Arts from the same institution.
As Senior Programming & Production Executive for Wellspring, Vanessa Arteaga heads the companies’ co-production projects, thereby securing programming for distribution through all of Wellspring’s major channels.
Ms. Arteaga has been involved in spearheading and managing various co-productions, including as of late, the groundbreaking feature-length documentary film Tarnation. The film has received worldwide acclaim, picking up several awards in the past year including Best Documentary by the National Society of Film Critics; Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival; the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and the Emerging Filmmaker Award by the International Documentary Association. It was also nominated for Best Documentary of the year for both the IFP Gotham Awards and the IFP Spirit Awards.
Prior projects have included Devil’s Playground and Fashion Victim: The Killing of Gianni Versace for Cinemax, Mama Africa for PBS, Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied for American Masters, Who is Alan Smithee? for AMC, and several pledge programs for PBS.
WELLSPRING licenses, distributes, and co-produces programming worldwide for the television, home video, theatrical, online, and consumer markets. Ms. Arteaga has been with Wellspring for seven years in various production and programming capacities. Prior to joining Wellspring, she was positioned at CBS News Productions working on the acclaimed A&E Biography series, and 20th Century with Mike Wallace.
Marilyn R. Atlas is an award-winning producer and personal manager in the worlds of film, television, and live theater. She produced REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, the West Coast theater premiers of GOD BLESS YOU MR. ROSEWATER and TO GILLIAN ON HER 37TH BIRTHDAY, and was casting director of THE WIZ. She is a founding member of Women in Films Luminas Committee, which supports the portrayal of women in non-stereotypical roles in film and television. Along with Dorothy Lyman, Marilyn founded ADT, a director's theater.
Sandra Avila, Coordinator, Original Programming, Showtime Networks Inc., is responsible for the supervision of Showtime’s Annual Latino Filmmaker Showcase, collaborating with the winner to produce a short, funded by grant money, that has its premiere on Showtime. She has worked on a number of series throughout her tenure at Showtime Networks, including “Resurrection Blvd.,” “Street Time,” “Queer As Folk,” and “Penn & Teller.” Avila received a BA from St. Mary’s University and a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School.
Orlando Bagwell joined the Ford Foundation in February 2004 as the new Media Production Program Officer in the Media, Arts and Culture unit, in the Knowledge, Creativity and Freedom Program. Orlando has a distinguished career of over 25 years as an independent filmmaker and producer. His long list of achievements includes 4 Emmy Awards and numerous Emmy nominations, 3 George Peabody Awards, and the 1994 New York Film Festival Grand Prize, among many others. He was one of the lead producers/directors of Blackside, Inc., and its award-winning series, "Eyes on the Prize,” and was Executive Vice President in charge of production for this pre-eminent film company from 1991-94.
Since 1989 he has been President/Filmmaker of Roja Productions, Inc. As Executive Producer/Filmmaker at WGBH Educational Foundation during 1995-2000, he supervised all aspects of the multi-part historical documentary series "Africans in America" for PBS national Broadcast and the attendant national educational and community outreach programs; he has produced and represented a number of documentary television series and single programs for national PBS distribution. Orlando has also curated visual exhibits for the national Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in film and a Masters degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University.
Gabriel J. Baptiste joined Telemundo Cable Group as the Senior Director Program Scheduling to oversee the retargeting of mun2 programming, relaunch Telemundo Internacional as an all-Spanish network for Latin America, and launch/develop Telemundo Puerto Rico for U.S. Hispanic audiences. He is the former Director of Television/Executive Producer at Zeal Television USA in Miami Beach, FL, and has over 13 years in multiple management positions related to production and cable programming. Baptiste launched his career in radio over three decades ago in Caracas, Venezuela.
Luis’ interest in production started as a junior high-school kid roaming the cavernous studios at NBC’s Burbank lot. It was a time when security was lax and Johnny Carson, Flip Wilson and Rowan & Martin ruled the peacock network.
After a short and glorious tour in the US Army, Greenpeace called with a job offer to work as a “media liaison” while the environmental watchdog took on the tuna fisheries in Central America. Later came other campaigns, fighting rogue whalers in Peru, Japanese gill-netters in the Pacific and in Russia, protesting the killing of Gray whales.
After his near capture in Russia, Luis segued to a production job on Solid Gold. Yes, the one with Marilyn McCoo, Andy Gibb and those dancers. It was here that Luis met his first mentor, Louis J Horvitz who was directing the show. Mr. Horvitz encouraged Luis to pursue directing by becoming a shooter first.
After Solid Gold, Luis worked at CCI, a video equipment rental company in Hollywood. It was here that Luis learned how to shoot Betacam cameras and operate editing equipment, learning the business from the inside, hands on.
Greenpeace called again and gave Luis his first directing gig, working on documentaries in Hawaii. Eventually, Luis made the transition to broadcast TV, landing a staff-directing gig with the CBS affiliate in Honolulu. He directed newscasts, sporting events, concerts and commercials.
After returning from paradise, Luis landed a producing gig in the creative services department for Telemundo’s flagship station in LA.This led to general market producing jobs with KCAL promoting the LA Lakers, Angels and LA Kings, KABC and several independent trailer and promo houses.
Seemingly out of nowhere a friend of a friend working at Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP) called looking for a Spanish-speaking producer to head down to Mexico for MTV’s unscripted show “Road Rules.” It was a new genre and a new mentor, producer, Clay Newbill. The gig fit like a glove and so came more opportunities from this burgeoning company. Directing, casting, producing and editing, followed and best of all extensive travel.
It was Newbill who gave Luis his first shot at show producing, when he brought Mr. Barreto on as co-executive producer on ABC’s “The Mole-2,” plus both celebrity editions. Luis has produced for MTV, Fox, NBC and he was nominated for an Emmy for ABC’s “Extreme Makeover-Home Edition.” Currently Luis is producing a “hands on history” unscripted program for PBS. The eight hour series, “Texas Ranch House,” premiers May 1st through the 4th, 2006 on the Public Broadcasting Network.
Luis was born In Bogotá, Colombia and currently lives with his wife and 2 kids in Los Angeles, California.
Steve Bartz handles digital strategies for Active Voice, developing and marketing programs including The New Americans DVDs, the multimedia corporate program, The Islam Project, and the online presence for TEACH. Before Active Voice, Steve produced environmental documentaries in Latin America and California and curated international film series at Chicago’s Field Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
Steve holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies from UC-Berkeley, focusing on the role of communication technologies in regional development.
Kevin Benson has long been a believer in the Latino market and its buying power. He has many years in the entertainment business, specializing in music, merchandising, and licensing. He served as an executive with both New Line Cinema and Saban Entertainment, developed sponsorship and promotions for companies including BUDWEISER, COORS, JOSE CUERVO, AMERICAN AIRLINES, and PEPSI, and has established merchandising and representation programs for artists like Juanes and Shakira. Kevin is producing a filmed version of the play Latinologues.
Luca Bentivoglio Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting
As Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting, Mr. Bentivoglio is responsible for the development and production of Latino Programs that provide diversity to the PBS line-up. He implements outreach and international distribution strategies to offer Latino independent producers with additional opportunities in the global market.
Mr. Bentivoglio has been a television network and production executive for over two decades and is regarded as a pioneer of U.S. Spanish-language television having worked for Univision Network, Telemundo Network and Warner Brothers International. In 1996, Mr. Bentivoglio launched the new Warner Bros. Channel in Latin America and directed the programming, marketing, and distribution efforts that made WB the #1 family channel in Latin America and Brazil.
Through his own company, Luca Bentivoglio Productions, Inc., he has produced, written and hosted more than 1,000 half-hours of network television broadcasts. As an independent producer, Mr. Bentivoglio created, wrote and produced prime-time shows for Univision and Telemundo, including the award-winning special Viva La Raza, a celebration of the richness of Latino culture in the United States. He also hosted Desde Hollywood and Cine Millonario, both long-running prime time hit series. In addition, he produced and directed several movies of the week for Telemundo, which achieved the highest ratings during the 1994 television season.
St. Claire Bourne is a producer, director, and writer for his business Chamba Mediaworks, Inc., including some 45 film productions, specializing in the exploration of African life both in the United States and internationally. He directed PAUL ROBESON: HERE I STAND! after producing a feature-length documentary HALF PAST AUTUMN: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF GORDON PARKS. Bourne has taught film courses at Cornell University, CCNY-Queens College, UCLA's Film Department, and Yale University.
Peter Broderick is President of Paradigm Consulting, which specializes in cutting-edge distribution techniques and provides strategic consulting services to filmmakers and media companies.
Broderick was President of Next Wave Films, which helped launch the careers of filmmakers (such as Christopher Nolan) from the U.S. and abroad. It financed digital features through its production arm--Agenda 2000.
Broderick played a key role in the growth of the ultra-low budget feature movement. A leading advocate of digital moviemaking, Broderick gave presentations on digital production at Cannes, Sundance, and Berlin. He has written articles for Scientific American, The New York Times, and The Economist. He is a graduate of Brown, Cambridge University, and Yale Law School.
Now focused on the revolution in independent distribution, Broderick has given keynotes on the subject internationally and published a seminal article, “Maximizing Distribution.” As Program Co-Director, he helped organize DigiMart, the first Global Digital Distribution Summit, which brought together leaders of the digital revolution from around the world.
In 2004, he launched http://www.filmstoseebeforeyouvote.org to harness the power of film to impact elections. Most recently, he executive produced SIR! NO SIR!, a feature documentary about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam (Audience Award winner, Los Angeles Film Festival).
Nicole Brown is a development executive at Marc Platt Productions (LEGALLY BLONDE 1 + 2, EMPIRE FALLS, WICKED), with a first-look deal at Universal Studios. An associate producer on HONEY, Nicole is currently developing projects such as NAPPILY EVER AFTER, COMPOSITIONS IN BLACK AND WHITE by Jose Rivera, THE UNTITLED MARLA RUZICA PROJECT with Kirsten Dunst, LOVE IN THE DRIEST SEASON, THE BOOK OF LEO, and the Dusty Springfield biopic: SAY YOU LOVE ME. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nicole began her career as an intern at Miramax in New York.
Ciara Byrne is the Executive Director of Lion Television USA, working to promote the London-based company with shows for US channels. She has a background in program creation and development for television, including Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, Fox, E!, TLC, Animal Planet, and others. After graduating from University College in Dublin with a Masters in Drama, she got her start in television as a researcher for BBC in Washington, DC.
Deborah Calla is a veteran of film, television, and commercial production. Her company develops and produces programming with a Latino sensibility. Having worked extensively in the US and Brazil, Deborah provides production services to producers and production companies. Her feature credits include DREAM HOUSE and LOST ZWEIG, CARNIVALE IN RIO-2004, CARNIVALE IN RIO-2003. She serves as chair of the PGA diversity development program that will take applications in spring 2006.
Colin Callender is president, HBO Films, responsible for overseeing the development and production of all films, theatrical and for the network including Award-winning EMPIRE FALLS, ANGELS IN AMERICA and LAKAWANNA BLUES. He had been head of HBO NYC Productions as senior vice president and then as executive vice president, having originally joined HBO as executive producer, HBO Showcase. He won an Emmy® Award for his work as producer of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,” and has received numerous other awards for his work as a writer. Callender holds a BA with Honors in Philosophy and Politics from the University of East Anglia.
Julio Caro is a producer of motion pictures. His next film is EL CANTANTE directed by Leon Ichaso, telling the life story of Hector Lavoe who started the salsa movement in 1975 and brought it to the United States. He is also in production on IT’S UNDER MY SKIN, the feature debut of actor Mike Cerrone. Both films are due for release in 2006. Julio also produced Tarsem Singh’s new film THE FALL this year, after his collaboration with Singh on THE CELL, which starred Jennifer López.
Michelle has worked in the worlds of independent film and theatre for more than 10 years, including production, distribution, and artist support services. She is currently Production Assistance Program Administrator for Women Make Movies, a media arts organization which facilitates the production, promotion, distribution and exhibition of independent films by and about women. She oversees fiscal sponsorship for nearly 200 projects in various stages of production as well as implements career and project development programs for women filmmakers.
Prior to Women Make Movies, Michelle worked as Marketing Associate with First Run/Icarus Films, a leading distributor of documentaries, and Program Director of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF), where she produced events and developed programs for artists nationwide. She has served on numerous screening committees and evaluation juries (including P.O.V, the National Black Programming Consortium, and Global Film Initiative), and has presented programs at the industry’s leading film festivals, including Sundance and South By Southwest. Michelle has also been a part of independent film production (Everyday People; Bigger Than Life: Toots Shor; Cosmopolitan) and theatre production (Sara Moore’s Show Ho; You Again: A Musical About Cloning). Originally from Minneapolis, she began her career as Membership/Education Director for Independent Feature Project/Minnesota (IFP/MN), where she administered the McKnight Fellowship for Screenwriters.
Aaton Cohen-Sitt is currently the Managing Partner of Jungle Software, makers of Gorilla, Film Production Software for Independent Filmmakers. He has written several feature-length screenplays and directed the award-winning short, "Dr. Ded Bug", which Roger Ebert reviewed as “brief and brilliant”. His feature-length film debut, "Interviewing Norman", a comedy about a documentary filmmaker obsessed with the devil, was the driving force for creating Gorilla, software specifically geared towards the independent filmmaker. Aaton gives seminars on independent filmmaking at The Apple Stores, film schools, and various film festivals.
Juan Carlos Coto is a consulting producer on the ABC drama INVASION. For HBO, he is co-writing and executive producing ENRIQUE'S JOURNEY, a miniseries about illegal immigration. Coto was consultant on the Emmy-winning HBO film, FOR LOVE OR COUNTRY: THE ARTURO SANDOVAL STORY. Further credits include THE PRETENDER, THE DEAD ZONE and NCIS. He has created several pilots and developed the series MORTAL KOMBAT: CONQUEST. A former computer game designer, Coto was also a staff writer for The Miami Herald.
Jeff Cree is the Acquisition Systems Specialist for Sony and has spent more time in the HD trenches than anyone we know. Jeff is widely considered to be one of the leading authorities on the Sony F900 and any DPs who have an HD project in their future would be well advised to attend one of his highly popular seminars. As Jeff points out, "There are essentially two techniques to using the F900 in a film type environment. One is having a remote control station (Video Village) with a remote operator/engineer who works with the DP and actually controls or paints the image as it is recorded. The other technique is to preset the camera to a conservative profile and then just light and operate using that setting as you would a film stock."
In his role as president, Daniel Crowe defines the strategic direction and oversees the daily operations of LATV. After spending years in the Hispanic media industry, Crowe envisioned a network entirely dedicated to serving the interests and preferences of U.S. Latino youth and young adults – a rapidly growing but largely underserved demographic. Working closely with founder Walter Ulloa and a team of dedicated young Latinos, Crowe helped make that dream a reality with the launch of LATV in January, 2001.
Crowe began his broadcast career more than 20 years ago at the Spanish International Network (SIN), now Univision, and went on to hold various management positions at Univision, Telemundo and Galavision. In addition to his background in television, Crowe also brings experience in the worlds of the Internet and radio. He helped launch Internet Mercado, a Spanish-language e-commerce Website. And…In 1995, Crowe started the first major market Spanish Rock Station, Ritmo 98.3 in Los Angeles,( whose format was taken over by Entravision and became today’s La Super Estrella) and served as an owner and general manager until its sale to Cox Communications in 1997.
Crowe holds bachelor degrees in Spanish and Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Angel David’s Film credits include THE CROW, KISS OF DEATH, TED'S MBA, TWO GIRLS AND A GUY, THE CITIZEN, CITY HALL, A JERSEY TALE, SEARCH AND DESTROY, THE SUBSTITUTE 2, and GI JANE, among others.
Television credits include: Several appearances on Law and Order, Third Watch, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, New York News, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Another World, Janek: The Wallflower Murders, a recurring role on One Life to Live, and the Dick Wolf Pilot Conviction.
Angel has directed numerous plays, and has written and will direct a short SCAR TISSUE. He is a Producers Academy Alum, and last year returned as a mentor.
Northrop Davis is a professional screenwriter, commercial director, and teacher/lecturer on screenwriting and film. He has sold three studio projects, and has written and directed commercials for over five years. He found and pitched the Battle Angel Alita Manga series to Twentieth Century Fox; it was subsequently acquired for James Cameron who is in production on the vfx-heavy film franchise (project title: BATTLE ANGEL).
Margarita De la Vega-Hurtado, Ph.D., Executive Director of The Flaherty/ International Film Seminars. Ms. De la Vega-Hurtado is a widely recognized film scholar and curator, that began as a film ciritc in Bogota, Colombia for newspapers and television. She holds a doctorate in American Culture, with an emphasis in Film Studies. Dr. de la Vega-Hurtado was a lecturer in American Cuture and in film studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she directed the Program in Latino Studies. She was also a visiting Faculty at the University of California-Santa Cruz. She has curated and presented program s in Latin American and Latino Cinema, on Louis Malle, and on documentary.
Ricardo de Montreuil is the Creative Director of On Air Promos and Off Air for mun2 television. Prior to joining Telemundo, de Montreuil served as Senior Art Director at MTV Networks Latin America, and has directed music videos and TV commercials, including spots for Coca-Cola, Mc Donald’s and MTV, winning several awards for his achievements in creative and art direction. He has just completed his first feature film, LA MUJER DE MI HERMANO” (MY BROTHER’S WIFE), which has been acquired by Twentieth Century Fox and was released in September 2005.
Since year 2000 Ricardo Del Río has co-produced/line produced 8 U.S. feature films including “The Mexican” for Dreamworks, “The Matador” for the Stratus Company and most recently “Nacho Libre” for Paramount Pictures; during this time he has also supervised the Mexico Units of films such as “Kill Bill” and “The Cave” through his company Art In Motion – Mexico.
His experience dates back to 1992 starting as Production Assistant working his way up in American feature films as Production Coordinator, Production Supervisor, Unit Production Manager, and on films like “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” and “Borderland”, as First Assistant Director; he has also Directed the 2nd Unit on several films including “Vampires – Los Muertos”, “Deadly Swarm” and “Wild World”.
Although specialized in American features shot in México, Ricardo Del Río has also written and produced over 10 Mexican Feature Films.
A co-founder of the National Film Commission – México and the Puerto Vallarta Film Commission, Ricardo Del Río has worked closely with the Mexican Unions and Government Institutions to help develop a reliable film industry in México that can provide quality services to any production regardless of nationality, complexity or budget size.
Lourdes Diaz leads VOY Pictures' efforts in acquiring, developing and packaging films in theUnited States, Latin America andSpain. Diaz has more than 12 years of experience in management and production. Most recently, she was the founder and President of Agua Entertainment, where she developed and produced films for theatrical and television distribution as well as managed writers and directors. Agua Entertainment Group had an overhead deal with Catch 23 Entertainment. There Diaz oversaw and consulted on a development and production slate that includes: Edge of Darkness a co-production with the BBC; The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a co-production with Odd Lot Entertainment, presently casting for Warner Independent Pictures, with Mark Klein directing; and Mrs. Darwin, a co-production with The Film Council to be directed by Mike Newell. In addition, this fall she served as Executive Producer for James Patterson's Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, a telefilm for CBS.
From 1999 to 2003, Diaz served as head of Development and Production of Green Moon Productions, Antonio Banderas' and Melanie Griffith's company. She was responsible for the development and production of studio and independent films, and television series and telefilms. Diaz served as Co-Executive Producer on ImaginingArgentina(Universal/Arenas), Co-Produced …And Starring Pancho Villa (HBO) as well as partner and producer on the upcomingSan Antonio(Fox Searchlight), Killing Pablo (Paramount/DreamWorks) and Infidel (Miramax).Diaz also developed and managed multi-year deals between Green Moon and Telemundo, Warner Bros., Columbia/TriStar Television, and HBO. Previously, Diaz was Senior Vice President of Development and Production at MPCA from 1997 to 1999, where she developed studio films, independent productions and television movies.
From 1993 to 1997, Diaz was at ICM, where she was an agent for the independent packaging division in their International Department, sourcing, managing and placing writers, directors and actors from their affiliate offices worldwide. While at ICM, she oversaw motion picture packaging and financing, as well as represented finished foreign films for distribution and remake, resulting in her expertise in cultural and financial co-productions. Diaz worked with and represented over 50 international writers and directors, including Roman Polanski, Alex de la Iglesias, Marcelo Pinyero, Mira Nair, Fernando Trueba, Hector Babenco, Julie Davis and the late Director Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Carmen M. DiRienzo is Vice President and Managing Director, Corporate Affairs at Thirteen/WNET New York, the nation’s flagship public broadcasting station. Her responsibilities include corporate business ventures, interactive and broadband, human resources, and labor relations. Some highlights of Ms. DiRienzo’s tenure in this role include creation of Thirteen’s first cable-only program service, relocation to a state-of-the-art digital facility, cable carriage for Thirteen’s digital channels, and merger with WLIW21. In the interactive and broadband arena, under Ms. DiRienzo’s direction, Thirteen Online has doubled its monthly visitors to over 300,000, and won many major awards, including the prestigious Japan Prize and Perelli international awards. Human resource practices and labor contracts have been designed to empower the Thirteen team to exercise its extraordinary creativity in service of the company’s mission.
Ms. DiRienzo serves on the Board of PBS National Datacast, Inc., a commercial subsidiary of the Public Broadcasting Service, and also represents Thirteen in a variety of industry membership organizations, including the Metropolitan Television Alliance, the Public Television Major Markets Group and the Affinity Coalition Group. In addition, Ms. DiRienzo is Vice Chair of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council..
Prior to joining the Thirteen, Ms. DiRienzo was an attorney in private practice, specializing in labor and employment law, primarily for broadcast and entertainment industry clients, including Thirteen and PBS. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and obtained her juris doctorate from the George Washington University National Law Center.
Marcos Efron is a producer, writer, editor and director of the 11-minute short film COMMON PRACTICE, that just premiered at the Sundance 2006 Film Festival, LALIFF and Santa Barbara Film Festival. He also wrote and directed JERRY V. DEATH. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and raised in Houston, Texas, he worked as an investment banker in New York and Miami. Marcos has directed music videos for a variety of artists, both independent and signed.
Val Elustondo is Manager, Development at MTV Production Development, overseeing "Run's House" as well as a new dating series, "The X Effect." A graduate of New York University, she ended up in LA with Warner Bros. Feature Films Casting Administration and Touchstone Television/ABC Network Casting. She then worked with Telepictures Productions, helping to launch daytime programming such as "The Caroline Rhea Show," "Ellen Degeneres Show," and the short lived "Sharon Osbourne Show." She also worked on a couple of their long running series, Judge Mathis and Change of Heart.
Ramón Escobar is Senior Executive Vice President, Network Entertainment at Telemundo, after serving as Executive Vice President Programming and Production and as Senior Vice President of News, Creative Services and Local Programming for Telemundo Television Stations. Escobar got his start on Spanish-language Television as a Sports Producer at WXTV/Channel 41, Univision's owned and operated station in New York in 1991. He then became Executive Producer of WNJU/Channel 47, Telemundo's owned and operated station in New York in 1993.
Long-time NALIP member Maria Escobedo, who received the prestigious 2005 Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship, has recently been staffed on the ABC TV series GREY'S ANATOMY. Maria also wrote and directed the indie feature film, RUM AND COKE, a romantic comedy. Maria has also received funding by Latino Public Broadcasting to write and direct LA COCINA: Stories from the Kitchen, a one-hour drama for Public Television.
Moctesuma Esparza, award-winning filmmaker, producer, entertainment executive and entrepreneur is well known for his contribution to the movie industry and his commitment to providing access and opportunities for Latinos in Hollywood. A partner in the highly successful Esparza-Katz Productions, he has worked with stars such as Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Smits, Martin Sheen and Halle Berry. Most recently, he produced WALKOUT, an upcoming HBO film based on the true life events of the 1968 Walkouts that happened at five East Los Angeles High Schools. The films stars Alexa Vega, Michael Pena and Efren Ramirez. Additional Production credits include: SELENA, INTRODUCING DOROTHY DANDRIDGE; GETTYSBURG; CISCO KID; THE PRICE OF GLORY; SELMA, LORD SELMA; THE BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ; and THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR. He has won over 200 awards, including an Emmy for CINCO VIDAS and an Academy Award nomination for AGUEDA MARTINEZ - OUR PEOPLE, OUR COUNTRY.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Esparza has not forgotten his humble beginnings and is dedicated to giving back to his community. Esparza’s father, Francisco, came to the United States in 1918 during the Mexican Revolution from Jalisco, Mexico. He worked as a farm worker and railroad hand from Texas to Utah to California where he settled in Los Angeles. Esparza grew up with a strong sense of social justice and remembers the education, principles and values he learned from his father, and incorporated them in his lessons for his own children and all American Latino youth.
As a UCLA student in the late 1960’s, Moctesuma Esparza played an active role in the student youth movement. He was a founder of MECHA, and leader in the famous Chicano Student Walkouts of 1968 for which he and 12 others were arrested. He was also present with a film crew at the August 1970 National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War. The footage he shot there eventually was incorporated into the film Requiem 29.
For more than thirty years, Esparza has maintained his commitment to the Latino Community from his first ONLY ONCE IN A LIFETIME (1979) to one of his best-known films, SELENA (1997).
But there is another side to this remarkable Latino producer. As an entrepreneur he acquired the franchise for the first all Latino owned cable company, Buenavision Cable TV in East L.A., which he built and operated. Moctesuma learned early on the business of art, he explains “I learned that a movie has to be made for a market, and film is truly a marriage of Art and Commerce”. Today, in addition to producing films he has also established a chain of movie theatre complexes, called Maya Cinemas.
A life long entrepreneur and businessman, Mr. Esparza served as Chair of the Board of the New America Alliance Institute from 2000-2003, an organization of American Latino business leaders united to promote the economic advancement of the Latino Community in America from 2000. New America Alliance is organized on the principle that American Latino businesspersons have a special responsibility to lead the process of building the forms of capital most crucial to Latino progress – economic capital, political capital, human capital and the practice of philanthropy.
Mr. Faber was born with an entrepreneur's spirit and was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He holds a degree in Electronic Engineering and has worked in numerous electronics, technical and engineering capacities throughout the past 30 years, including several top corporations such as Lockheed Corporation, Spacelabs, Inc., Loral EOS, Ocean Technology, Inc. and Instrumentation Laboratory, Inc.
A keen interest in filmmaking brought Mr. Faber to Los Angeles where he immediately embarked on a career in the production of industrial films and commercials. As a video producer, he was constantly approached by clients asking him if he had any film clips on his demo tape. It was during these situations that he began to realize the revered stature of film over video in the entertainment industry.
Combining his fascination with filmmaking and his engineering background, Mr. Faber began research and development on a process that would ultimately result in the creation of FILMLOOK. In 1986, Mr. Faber began paying particular attention to the qualities of telecined film that differentiate it from ordinary video. The concept of isolating those elements, then designing a process that would make the film simulation process available to video producers everywhere, became an important goal for the filmmaker-engineer.
Mr. Faber started on the actual design for FILMLOOK in late 1987, and began building the prototype in the spring of 1988. With the help of his partner, Anna Cordova, and their friends, the FILMLOOK process was unveiled to the entertainment industry at an open house presentation held at the Sheraton Universal Hotel (formerly the Registry Hotel) in Universal City in January 1989. The response was overwhelmingly favorable and FILMLOOK was on its way.
FILMLOOK has been the perfect outlet for Mr. Faber's natural tendency for invention. As a former flight instructor, Mr. Faber literally "takes off" with his innovative ideas and flies his single engine plane everywhere from sales meetings in FILMLOOK's Canadian office to his native Boston. As a past marathon competitor, he tries to run as often as his hectic schedule permits. Ms. Cordova describes him as not only a captivating inventor, but "a man with a great sense of humor."
Robert Faber currently resides in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California.
Raised in New York, now stationed in South Florida, Alex Ferrari has become one of region's most sought after directors/editors/post supervisors. Alex has edited two feature films as well as editing & post supervising over 300 commercials, promos, film trailers & short films.
After all the amazing support and attention his directorial break-through project "B R O K E N" (http://www.whatisbroken.com) has received, he decided to open "Numb Robot" a visual effects house that targets the independent film community. (http://www.numbrobot.com)
Evy Ledesma Galán is vice-president of Galán Inc., an award-winning Austin, Texas, based tv/film production company specializing in documentary film production. Past productions include CHICANO! HISTORY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTt, SONGS OF THE HOMELAND, THE FORGOTTEN AMERICANS, ACCORDIAN DREAMS, and most recently the PBS six episode series VISIONES: LATINO ART & CULTURE. Currently, Galán Inc. is in post production on a music documentary feature: LOS LONELY BOYS COTTONFIELDS AND CROSSROADS. Ledesma Galán also founded the twelve-year-old CineSol Latino Film Festival, a festival serving the Texas/Mexico border communities of the Rio Grande Valley, serving as its director for ten years.
Nely Galán, creator, executive producer, and resident life coach of Fox’s new hit reality series, THE SWAN, is regarded as one of the entertainment industry’s most dynamic and successful creative executives. Inspired by her own real-life “Swan” success story, Galán was determined to help women around the world realize their dreams. In its debut, over 9 million viewers were riveted each week to the dramatic transformation and awakening of eighteen self-proclaimed “ugly ducklings” on THE SWAN. During its first season, THE SWAN ranked #1 in its competitive time period and over 10 million people tuned-in to witness the crowning of the ultimate Swan on America’s top pageant. In just six months, THE SWAN’s life-transforming self-growth message has become a sensation leading to several multimedia incarnations including a book (The Swan Curriculum) by Galán, licensing and merchandising deals, and format sales around the world. THE SWAN Season 1 and 2 aired on Fox.
Nely Galán’s accomplished career has spanned the gamut from launching television channels in Latin America to serving as President of Telemundo, and from creating local Spanish-language programming to being the only executive producer in television creating and producing an impressive slate of over 500 hours of reality and fiction programming for both Spanish and English language networks around the world. In a meteoric rise, her sphere of influence has canvassed media conglomerates such as Sony, Time Warner and News Corp. From the beginning, Galán has dedicated her career to bridging the cultural gap between Latin cultures and mainstream American media. Her mission endures today as she continues to create and produce relevant, aspirational, branded multimedia content targeting female and urban audiences through a variety of television, film, and publishing projects.
Galan is the first producer to produce a Telenovela both in Spanish and English in a joint venture with power house Mexican conglomerate Televisa and 20th Century Fox.
Her career in television began when she caught the attention of Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio. They recruited her to manage the Spanish-language television station WNJU-TV – Telemundo’s flagship station – in Linden, N.J. At age 22, Galán became the youngest television station manager in the United States.
After her run at WNJU, Galán segued to work with Time Warner, which offered her a new opportunity to fulfill her goals. Working with one of their cable networks, HBO, she co-created the production company Tropix, charged with putting Latino faces on American television. Among her credits with Tropix, Galán produced a series of comedy specials called “Loco Slam.” In 1994, Nely found a common bond with News Corp. and Fox, which wanted to target the Latin American-U.S. market, and pacted with her newly-formed GALAN Entertainment to produce English and Spanish-language television programming for audiences in the United States and Latin America, as well as bi-lingual multi-media. Her credits for GALAN include producing the telenovela “Empire” and the Bravo Awards. As a creative force, she was instrumental in award-winning efforts for the launching and branding of the Fox Latin American Channel, Fox Kids Network in Latin America, and Fox Sports Americas.
GALAN became independent in 1996, with its realm extending to other entertainment entities, launching the MGM cable networks in Brazil, the Sony/Teleuno cable network in Latin America and Telemundo for Sony and TCI. In 1998, Galán’s career came full circle when she was named president of entertainment for Telemundo. During her time as a Telemundo executive, Galán struck first-ever television deals with talent such as Ricky Martin, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, and Paul Rodriguez as well as initiating co-branding efforts with MTV and Nickelodeon. Perhaps most notably during her tenure there, she directed her vision to bring unprecedented programming to the U.S. with the first-ever Spanish-language sitcoms “Solo en America” and “Los Beltran,” as well as the pioneering talk show featuring a priest as host, “Padre Alberto.”
In 2000, Galán entered an exclusive two-year Spanish-language development and production deal with Telemundo with a multi-series commitment that encompassed comedy, drama and reality genres. Under this deal, Galán served as executive producer for “Los Beltran,” “Padre Alberto” and “Viva Vegas.” In addition to being the primary program supplier for Telemundo, the company also served as the creative agency for all of Telemundo’s marketing activities.
GALAN Entertainment is currently under a first-look deal with NBC/Telemundo. In 2003, Galán created the hit reality telenovela series for Telemundo, “La Cenicienta” (Cinderella). The stripped show was a break-out hit for Telemundo and lead to the development of “La Cenicienta 2” as well as the male version, “El Principe Azul” ( The Blue-blooded Prince), which are scheduled to air in 2005.
GALAN Entertainment’s slate of projects includes reality and fiction shows as well as feature films, targeting a mainstream, multi-ethnic audience with clients such as HBO, the Fox Network, and NBC/Telemundo.
Alexis Garcia is an associate in the Entertainment & Media Group in the firm Sheppard Mullin's Century City office.
Mr. Garcia primarily counsels entertainment industry clients, both at the studio and independent level, in the development, production, financing and distribution of motion picture and television content. In this capacity, he has negotiated numerous writer, director, actor and producer agreements on various film productions, both on the institutional and talent side. He is also a member of the firm's Hispanic/Latino Business Group, representing entertainment/media clients targeting U.S. Latino audiences and/or involved in film production in Latin America, whether focusing on English or Spanish content.
Mr. Garcia earned his J.D. in 2002 from UCLA School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Entertainment Law Review, Business Editor of the UCLA Law Review, and Coordinating Editor of the Chicano-Latino Law Review. He is the author of "Finding the Unobstructed Window for Internet Film Viewing," 9 UCLA ENT. L. REV. 243 (2002), "Digital Videorecorders May Not Meet 'SONY' Fair Use Test," Focus Column, The Daily Journal Feb 19, 2002, and "The Iberia Criteria: Co-Productions between Spain and Latin American Countries," which appeared in the Hispanic/Latino Business Group's inaugural newsletter, Enfoque Latino (Feb. 2005). Mr. Garcia was also recently featured in the Univision.com article "El cine en america latina: Una buena opcion para los hispanos." (available at http://www.univision.com/content/content.jhtml?cid=515673).
Mr. Garcia is also a board member of the East L.A. Classic Theatre, a non-profit aimed at providing comprehensive literacy training and engaging, relevant theatre experiences to disadvantaged youth and minority communities in the promotion of cultural inclusion and academic excellence.
Julissa García specializes in representing Latino clients within the Motion Picture and Television Departments at the William Morris Agency. She is the liaison between the Beverly Hills and Miami offices. She began her career as a WMA trainee, and has since worked with such clients as Kirsten Dunst, Mandy Moore, Scott Foley, and Joshua Jackson. Born and raised in Miami, Ms. García is a graduate of Florida State University.
Michael Garcia is the Vice President of HBO Entertainment. He is responsible for Drama Series Development and Current Programming on such shows as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Carnivale, Deadwood and the upcoming series Big Love. Michael was formerly the Director of Development for Industry Entertainment’s Television Division. While at Industry, he developed primetime comedies and dramas, as well as reality and cable programming. Prior to joining Industry Entertainment, Garcia worked in Comedy Development at 20th Century Fox TV where he was an Executive Assistant. He is a graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in Economics.
Rafael Garcia is Director, Development and Original Programming at Nickelodeon. He has worked on numerous projects for Nickelodeon including "Pelswick," "The Kid's Choice Awards." and "The Nick Cannon Show.” He also served as Executive in Charge of Production for Nick's "In Concert on TEENick" music series, as well as the Nick Video Picks. Along with being the East coast point person for original pitches, Rafael continues to develop and oversee the production of numerous properties in both live action and animation.
Rodrigo García
Rodrigo Garcia grew up in Mexico City and attended the American Film Institute. His credits as director of photography include DANZON (dir. By Maria Novaro), MI VIDA LOCA (dir. by Allison Anders) and GIA (dir. by Michael Cristofer). His first feature film as writer and director was THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER. Other projects include TEN TINY LOVE STORIES, FATHERS AND SONS and NINE LIVES, the pilots of the HBO series CARNIVALE and the upcoming BIG LOVE, as well as episodes of SIX FEET UNDER and THE SOPRANOS.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Belinda Gardea moved to Los Angeles in order to attend USC’s School of Cinema/Television. Upon graduating from USC, Belinda worked in the entertainment industry in various roles ranging from Assistant to Director to Assistant Film Editor.
After working as a Casting Assistant on BOUND BY HONOR (Hollywood Pictures), Ms. Gardea continued working in casting on many projects in both film and television. Projects as Casting Associate include: Most recently, NACHO LIBRE (Paramount/Nickelodeon Movies), GHOSTRIDER (Sony), HAPPY FEET (Warner Bros.), SWORDFISH (Warner Bros.), RESURRECTION BLVD. (Showtime/Viacom), WAKIN’ UP IN RENO (Miramax), IN TOO DEEP (Miramax), Location Casting for DESPERADO (Columbia/Sony), C-16 (ABC), and ROSEANNE (ABC).
Projects as a Casting Assistant include: DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT (Castle Rock), RICHIE RICH (Warner Bros.), and THE PRICE OF LOVE (Fox Broadcasting).
One of her first opportunities to act as Casting Director on her own project came when Mathew Greenfield and Miguel Arteta came to her with STAR MAPS. Even with the severe limitations of a very low budget, she realized, first-hand, her love for independent films. Working by day as an associate casting director, she held casting sessions in the evenings and on weekends for STAR MAPS (Fox Searchlight). Since then, she has cast many films, including HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS SPENT THEIR SUMMER (Loosely Based Pictures), LA Casting for GOAL! (Buena Vista International), an extensive casting search for the role of 'Chanchito' in NACHO LIBRE, QUALITY OF LIFE (Summershines Productions), and LIVING THE LIFE (a.k.a. PARTY GIRLS, Richard and Esther Shapiro Productions). Television projects include AMERICAN FAMILY (El Norte Productions), the four-part series for ITVS and PBS, entitled FOTO-NOVELAS (1998 Alma Award for Outstanding Cast) and TAINA (Nickelodeon) in its second season.
She has also been working with Meridian Pictures Entertainment on a slate of features and television projects, including CARMEN’S PEARL, JEENEY RAY and FAUSTO’S ROAD.
Born and raised in Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Valley, Yvonne Gomez has always had a passion for the arts and a particular affinity for music. She has worked for more than a dozen years in the music industry beginning her career in 1989 when she founded an organization called “Club Rock En Español” æ a grass roots company created to promote Latin Rock to the Latin-American youth in Los Angeles. CREE eventually grew into becoming the leading organization that record companies, artist managers and even the groups themselves, came to for help in promoting their music.
Besides her attempts at being a Latin Rock entrepreneur, Yvonne’s first “official” foray into the music business was in 1992 at EMI Latin under the direction of Jose Behar, where she spent a few years working in every possible department including Marketing, Promotions, Merchandising, and Production among others. “At that phase of my career I just wanted to get my hands on anything I could” stated Yvonne. “it was incredible training ground!”
For the years following EMI, her career went on what she calls “auto pilot”. She quickly found work as a tour publicist/road manager for some of the top Latin Rock acts including Caifanes, Maldita Vecindad, La Castañeda, and Miguel Mateos. After a few years on the road, she continued in the field of music publicity and eventually landed a steady gig at the legendary Rhino Records label where she handled national publicity for the Urban, Latin, Jazz and Rock releases and in the process had the opportunity to work with some of her musical heroes including The Ramones, Los Lobos, Devo, The Sugarhill Gang, Mongo Santamaria and Kurtis Blow, among others.
While working at Rhino, she attended a rock show for a new Argentine band, and ran into an old friend Gustavo Santaolalla who had been the producer for most of the Latin Rock acts she had toured with. Santaolalla had founded a very successful Latin Rock label Surco, and he soon offered her a position as the Label Manager of his joint venture with Universal Music Latin America, which was the home to artists Molotov, Juanes, Orishas, Bersuit Vergarabat, El Otro Yo, and Erica Garcia. Of course, she jumped at the chance and soon realized that she would be involved in much more than just the label. Besides her duties overseeing the day-to-day activities of Surco, she was also given the opportunity to be involved in coordinating the activities of label founder/producer/artist Gustavo Santaolalla, which included the productions of artists including Café Tacuba and The Kronos Quartet as well as his work as a film composer and solo artist. “It was an incredible experience to be surrounded by so much talent on a daily basis,” comments Yvonne about her time at Surco. “Working so closely with Gustavo helped me to hone my ear for music by learning from the master. He is truly a renaissance man – producer, composer, film scorer, musician – he can do it all! It was an experience I will never forget.”
Yvonne now heads of the Latin Department at Peermusic, the world’s largest independent music publisher and has done so since 2003. She is responsible for overseeing the work of a plethora of immensely talented songwriters/performers including multiple Grammy winner Juanes, Micky Huidobro of Molotov, Fobia, Plastilina Mosh, Coti Sorokin, Facundo Monty and Los Pinguos, among others. In addition to nurturing the careers of these artists, Yvonne is also responsible for finding and signing new songwriters in all areas of the Latin music genre including Pop, Tropical, Regional Mexican, and Latin Alternative and also has recently added to her duties the supervision of the creative activities of peermusic’s office in Mexico City.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at peer and am looking forward to a long career with them,” stated Yvonne. “I have learned so much about Music Publishing from the peermusic President, Kathy Spanberger, who is an expert in the field and a powerful female role model. I have been very fortunate to have worked with great mentors and I am thrilled to have added Kathy to that list.”
Born in Bakersfield, California, Joseph Julian Gonzalez is a veteran composer with a multitude of credits that include the features CURDLED, PRICE OF GLORY, the television series Resurrection Blvd., Britney Spears’ music video “Oops, I Did It Again,” and Hector Galán’s multiple award-winning CHICANO: THE HISTORY OF THE MEXICAN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. The documentary he recently scored, COWBOY DEL AMOR, received nominations by the International Documentary Association and the Writer’s Guild of America. His concert piece, Misa Azteca, will be performed at the Sydney Opera House this summer.
Rick Gonzalez was born on June 30th 1979, in New York City and raised in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. He attended the "Fame" High School of performing arts where he studied Acting. Graduating in 1997 to pursue a career, Rick briefly worked in New York and later moved to Los Angeles to continue work. After two years of being in LA, Rick landed a role in the Disney film THE ROOKIE opposite Dennis Quaid. Rick is now currently working on other projects set to be due out in the near future.
Daniel D. Gregoire started out as a production artist on TitanAE and pre-viz artist on Moulin Rouge and Behind Enemy Lines. After that, he worked at Lucasfilm Ltd. / JAKFilms where he supervised pre-viz on STAR WARS: EPISODE II and STAR WARS: EPISODE III and also co-directed final effects shots for THX 1138: George Lucas Director's Cut. Since then, he started his own production company, Halon Entertainment (www.halonentertainment.com), which focuses on bringing entertainment to the digital level. His first client was Director Steven Spielberg who realized the value of pre-viz for WAR OF THE WORLDS. In his spare time, Dan loves photography.
Ms. Griego is an award winning independent documentary producer/director who has been working in film for the past 18 years. Her company, About Time Productions, produced the documentary, Paño Arte: Images from Inside and Border Visions/Visiones Fronterizos . Most recently she produced the feature documentary, Rosa’s Boys. Currently she’s in production on the feature documentary God Willing about a bible-based nomadic cult.
As Segment Co-Producer, she completed THE NEW AMERICANS, a Kartemquin Films’ PBS multi-part series due to air in March, 2004. As Line Producer she is in post -production on The Journey Home, a PBS multi part series also due to air in the Spring 2004. Her extensive production management and line producing experience includes short and feature films, music videos, and public service announcements. She has produced for the J. Paul Getty Trust, and worked with The Walt Disney Company, Faction Films, Morgan Creek Productions and MGM Studios. She has worked with OUTFEST as the Festival Manager and is the Co-Founder of the Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles. She serves on the board of directors for NALIP, The National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and OUTFEST Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian film festival.
Javier Grillo-Marxuach is a writer and supervising producer on the Emmy-, Writers Guild, and Golden Globe-award-winning series “Lost.” He is also writer and creator of Viper Comics' hot new title The Middleman. Javier began his career in television as a Primetime Series executive at NBC. He has subsequently written and produced series such as “Boomtown,” “The Pretender,” “Charmed,” “The Chronicle,” “seaQuest” and “Jake 2.0.” He has sold pilots to NBC, The WB and The Sci-Fi Channel, written comic books for both Marvel and DC, directed a short film, and created several works for the stage.
Margaret Guerra-Rogers is a music supervisor, working most recently on TORTILLA HEAVEN and REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES. She was also the soundtrack for REAL WOMEN, and wrote two of the songs for director Patricia Cordoso. She and also served as music supervisor on Moctesuma Esparza’s PRICE OF GLORY, and participated in the 2005 Latino Producers Academy™ as a music mentor.
Aurora was born and raised in San Francisco Bay Area by Mexican immigrant parents. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Chicano Studies from UC Berkeley, then obtained an MFA in film directing at Cal Arts. Since, Aurora has directed award winning short films, including Pura Lengua (2005 Sundance Film Festival) and Viernes Girl (winner of the 2005 HBO/NYILFF short film competition). Based on the strength of her first feature length script, Mosquita Y Mari, Aurora was awarded the 2005 Sundance Ford Fellowship, 2005 Paul Robeson Development Grant, and selected to participate in the Hedgebrook Writers-in-Residency program. Her accomplishments as an emerging writer/director also gained her admission into Film Independent‘s Project:Involve program.
Aurora assisted director Patricia Cardoso on her debut feature Real Women Have Curves which won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2002. She co-founded Los Angeles based Womyn Image Makers (WIM) and is a filmmaking member of Chica Luna Productions, INC.
Jason Gurvitz is a producer, and founder of Green Dog Films. From the documentary INTERNAL EXILE to the thriller THE UNGODLY, and the Johnnie Walker/LaTV “Make an Impact” concert featuring international music, art and fashion, for the Juarez rape crisis center Casa Amiga and Amazon Watch, Green Dog Film’s music and film projects are primarily international co-productions. Upcoming: TLATELOLCO: MEXICO ‘68, directed by Hugo Rodríguez (NICOTINA), starring Ryan Phillipe, John Leguizamo and Vanessa Bauche (AMORRES PERROS). Jason speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
James J. Gutierrez is a reality television writer, director, and producer. He started out in television as a page for the “Jenny Jones Show,” going on to make
Evy Ledesma Galán
Evangeline Griego