LALIFF’s Latinx Inclusion Fellowship Winners

The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) announced the winners of  its Latinx Inclusion Fellowship, sponsored by Netflix. The Fellowship, now in its second year, was created to develop extensive and inclusive opportunities for underrepresented groups within the Latino community, such as Indigenous and Afro-Latinos.

Award-winning filmmakers William D. Caballero, Evelyn Lorena, Nicole Mejia, Sebastian Rea and Kristi Uribes are the fellows selected for the Indigenous Latino cohort and Elyssa Aquino, Jeanette Dilone, Alexis Garcia, Gabriella A. Moses, and Eli Vazquez are the fellows selected for the Afro-Latino cohort.

“We are honored to be able to provide this unique fellowship that, with the support of Netflix, allows us to uplift underrepresented Latino voices in the industry,” said Academy Award®-nominated actor and co-founder of LALIFF and the Latino Film Institute, Edward James Olmos. “These ten selected fellows demonstrate the richness of talent in our community. We are excited to embark on this fellowship with them and are looking forward to the films they’ll be producing in the coming months.”

“Expanding this year’s program to include both Indigenous Latinx and Afro Latinx filmmakers helps create even more opportunities for people to see themselves and their experiences reflected on screen. This year’s Fellows are talented storytellers with unique creative visions. We can’t wait to see their films come to life with support from the incredible team at LALIFF,” says Pete Corona, Director of Drama Series at Netflix.

Each fellow will not only be awarded with a $20,000 grant to produce a short but they will receive individualized mentorship with the following established producers and/or artists; Alicia Marie Agramonte (Creed and HBO’s award-winning series Veep);  head of development and producer at Ojalá productions Christine Dávila; writer/director/producer Lissette Feliciano (Women Is Losers);  writer/director Javier Fuentes-León whose first feature film Undertow represented Peru at the Oscars® in 2011; editor Michael N. Knue (The Hidden and Night of the Creeps and Spawn);  Cristina Kotz Cornejo who was recently recognized by Variety as “2021 Educator of the Year;” writer/director Diana Peralta, and writer/producer Oscar Torres whose latest film 7th & Union.

As part of the program, their completed films will premiere as part of the 2022 version of LALIFF and will have networking opportunities because, as we know, visibility is everything! Make sure to follow these up-and-coming artists!