Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, a public programming initiative for libraries and other cultural organizations, will support exploration of the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos, who have helped shape the United States over the last five centuries and who have become, with more than 50 million people, the country's largest minority group.

Less surprising than it might first appear; animated features frequently offer more diverse casts than their live-action counterparts. For example this year's Oscar-nominated "How to Train Your Dragon 2" from DreamWorks animation includes the formidable Valka (Cate Blanchett), Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the hero with an amputated leg, and vocal performances by Djimon Hounsou as Drago Bludvist and America Ferrera as Astrid.

DEADLINE: May 1, 2015

More info:https://apply.ala.org/latinoamericans/guidelines

GoGo Tomago, left, Wasabi and Honey Lemon in "Big Hero 6." (Disney)

By CHARLES SOLOMON @ LA Times

Amid the complaints over the lack of ethnic diversity in the major Oscar categories, critics and defenders alike failed to notice that one nominee featured a cast that included two women (one of them Latina), an African American and an Asian American: Disney's "Big Hero 6."

That's less surprising than it might first appear; animated features frequently offer more diverse casts than their live-action counterparts. For example this year's Oscar-nominated "How to Train Your Dragon 2" from DreamWorks animation includes the formidable Valka (Cate Blanchett), Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the hero with an amputated leg, and vocal performances by Djimon Hounsou as Drago Bludvist and America Ferrera as Astrid.

The cast of the original "Big Hero 6" comic was not ethnically diverse. Co-director Don Hall explains, "They're essentially a Japanese superhero team, a kind of Japanese Avengers. In our first discussion with Marvel, they said, 'Take this and make it your own.' We took the Japanese aesthetic from the comic, which we thought was very cool, but applied it to San Francisco because it's iconic. Once we had our world of San Fransokyo, it became a no-brainer that the cast of the movie should be very multicultural."

"We decided it was going to be a multicultural cast right away," continues co-director Chris Williams. "Very early on, I was doodling this African American character and really liked the idea of short dreads."

Animated characters are caricatures of their real world counterparts; designing an ethnic character poses special challenges. The character's ethnicity has to be clear, but the artists must avoid the demeaning imagery used in the racial cartoons of the '30s and '40s.

The 2009 Oscar-winning Pixar film "Up" featured over-eager Korean American scout Russell (Joran Nagai), who bonds with an old white man (Ed Asner). The film's director, Pete Docter, noted that "When we were designing Russell, we were very lucky to have input from Pete Sohn. Pete's a Korean American who grew up outside New York: He storyboarded some of the first sequences with the Russell character.

"I was worried that the way I was drawing the shape of his eyes might be falling into a potentially offensive stereotype. Pete said, 'Korean eyes are shaped differently than Caucasian eyes: Just draw what's there — that's truth.'"

The push for greater diversity in animated features began at Disney two decades ago, the era of "Pocahontas" (1995) and "Mulan" (1998), which featured the studio's first Native American and Asian heroines, and "Lilo & Stitch" (2002). Dean DeBlois, the writer-director of "Dragon 2," served as co-head of story on "Mulan" and co-writer/co-director on "Lilo." He recalls, "When I joined Disney in 1994, there was an emphasis on finding classic Disney-esque stories from different cultures around the world."

Read more at LATimes.com

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Sony and Marvel made huge waves in the superhero film world earlier this week when they announced they were teaming up to bring Spider-Man and The Avengers back together.

The news has gotten fans excited about a new spidey movie — but more importantly about a new Spider-Man himself.

Typically, the Spider-Man films have followed the life of Peter Parker, as played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire before him. However, fans of Marvel comics are calling for the studios to ditch the Parker storyline and adapt a new, more Hispanic version with Miles Morales.

Who is Miles Morales? He’s the Spider-Man of Marvel’s Ultimate comics, a half-black, half-Latino teenager who took the role of Spider-Man after Peter Parker’s death at the hands of the Green Goblin.

Like Parker, the teenager got his powers after a bite by an enhanced spider, but was hesitant to use them until after Parker’s passing.

The studios announced Monday night that a new installment of the Spider-Man franchise would be produced by Marvel, but first, he will appear in an unspecified Marvel film.

While Spider-Man and The Avengers have interacted in comic books for decades, they’ve been segregated in the movies because of licensing agreements.

Social media has been abuzz asking Marvel and Sony to pick Morales over Parker in the new films.

Read More: Fox News Latino

by Alexandra DiPalma 

For those who aren’t up to date with the latest theatrical market statistics: Latinos buy 25% of all U.S. movie tickets and make up 32% of frequent moviegoers. So why is there only one Latino-centric film being released by a major studio in 2015?

A look at the numbers shows that Hollywood continues to almost completely ignore the Latino audience despite their influence and spending power, and the industry seems to be making little progress. Cesar Chavez was the only Latino-centric studio film released in 2014 and the lack of diversity behind the scenes indicates the depth of the issue. There are exactly zero Latino studio heads, network presidents, or CEOs. Of the top 10 films from 2010 to 2013, Latinos made up just 2.3% of directors, 2.2% of producers, and 6% of writers.

While the film industry has been slow to change, television programming is doing slightly better in terms of representation. The success of shows like Cristela and Jane the Virgin (Gina Rodriguez’s Golden Globe win was huge) proves that there is a strong appetite for Latino culture in mainstream primetime.

Hopefully the film world will take notes. Here’s a look at some of the most striking stats:

Check this out at Fusion.net.

Infographic by: Omar Bustamante