Fernando Lebrija was working on television shows, commercials and music videos in Mexico at the beginning of his career, but he stopped all of that and moved to Los Angeles to go to film school. He said Mexico, during that time, was not a film market. The most scripted content at the time was telenovelas, but that’s not what he wanted to create, so he left.

Despite leaving, Mexico will always be Lebrija’s home as it was there when he formed his love for film. His father was a fan of film and would take him to see every movie they could. Even though his mom would fall asleep in the theater, Lebrija would watch every film because they made him feel different emotions, which is ultimately what he wants to accomplish with his own work.

When Lebrija moved to LA, he enrolled in the American Film Institute, so that he could learn how to write a scripted film or show to produce in Hollywood. However, as life would have it, Latin America is now a thriving market and Lebrija has gone back to Mexico to shoot his films ‘Amar a Morir,’ a Mexican-Colombian drama about a man trying to escape his past, and ‘Sundown,’ an action film about high school students trying to recover a valuable watch from a gangster in Mexico. “We need to put together an effort to create Latin stars that can lead movies, that can tell our stories, not just narco stories. There’s much more to say about the Latin world,” he says.

Lebrija was one of the first NALIP members. He was first hired to build the organization’s database and now continues to support NALIP through mentorship. He hopes to see Latinos showing their strength by telling a variety of stories and not just sticking to stereotypes.

Now, as a director, writer and producer with 20 years of experience, Lebrija reflects on the challenges and opportunities he has had. Despite his credits, he says he still needs to do a lot of “knocking on doors” to get a project off the ground. He says the film industry is relentless and those wanting to be a part of it need to understand how to be proactive, which is one of the reasons he joined NALIP.

One of Lebrija’s projects was #RealityHigh, a Netflix original. Only one week after it released, it became the most watched movie on Netflix in more than 130 countries.

Follow Fernando Lebrija:

Twitter: @flebrija

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Director-Fernando-Lebrija-780124222047712/