Zoe Saldana to Receive Critics Choice Association‘s Groundbreaker Award

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Zoe Saldana is a special Critics Choice honoree…

The 46-year-old 44-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress is among the honorees from the Critics Choice Association‘s 4th Annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television taking place on October 22, 2024 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

Saldaña will receive the Groundbreaker Award for her starring role in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, which won the Best Actress prize for the ensemble cast at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

The Director Award – Film will be awarded to Pablo Larraín for his directorial work on Netflix’s Maria.

The film competed in the Venice Film Festival and was one of the official selections for both the Telluride Film Festival and the New York Film Festival this year.

The Vanguard Award will be given to filmmaker Fede Alvarez for his writing and directorial work in creating 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus.

The film notably earned $45.1 million in its domestic opening weekend at the box office and became the highest grossing horror film in IMAX history.

Emmy-nominated director, writer and producer Issa López will receive The Director Award – Series for her directorial work on the HBO Original Series True Detective: Night Country.

The series received 19 Emmy nominations, the most for any limited or anthology series this year and won star Jodie Foster the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for a Limited Series, Anthology, or Television Movie.

The Showrunner Award will recognize Emmy-nominated television writer and producer Francesca Sloane for her work on Prime Video’s series Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The series was nominated 16 times at this year’s Emmys and was awarded two wins.

Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Adriana Barraza will be honored with the Actress Award – Film for her role in Roadside Attractions’ film My Penguin Friend.

Barraza previously earned an Academy Award nomination in 2007 for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Babel and just received a 2024 International Emmy nomination for Best Actress for her work in the award-winning Netflix film El último vagón.

Actress and writer Fernanda Torres will receive the Actress Award – International Film for her role in Sony Pictures Classics’ film I’m Still Here, which notably garnered the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Venice Film Festival and has been selected as Brazil’s 2024 submission for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

Emayatzy Corinealdi will accept the Actress Award – Series for her performance on Hulu/Onyx Collective’s Reasonable Doubt.

Corinealdi also recently appeared in the HBO series Ballers and in the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. STARZ will bestow Emayatzy Corinealdi’s award with a special STARZ #TakeTheLead designation as part of its ongoing commitment to amplifying narratives by, about, and for women and underrepresented audiences.

Ramón Rodríguez will be awarded with the Breakthrough Actor Award – Series for his starring role in the ABC series Will Trent.

Rodríguez was also nominated in the Best Actor in a Drama Series category for season one at last year’s Critics Choice Awards.

The Comedy Series Award will be bestowed upon the acclaimed Apple TV+ series Acapulco, starring Emmy-winner Eugenio Derbez, Enrique Arrizon, Fernando Carsa, and Camila Perez.

The International Series Award will recognize the Apple TV+ Spanish-language drama series Familia de Medianoche, which features an entirely Latino cast and crew led by performers Renata Vaca, Joaquín Cosío, and Diego Calva.

The Celebration honors standout performances and work, both onscreen and offscreen from the Latino entertainment community.

Harvey Guillén Among National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Impact Award Honorees

Posted on May 28, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Harvey Guillén is being feted for his impact…

The National Hispanic Media Coalition has revealed the 2024 Impact Award honorees for its annual gala taking place on June 14, with the 34-year-old Mexican American actor among those being recognized.

Annie Gonzalez (Flamin’ Hot) and Mayan Lopez (Lopez vs. Lopez) will host the celebration.

The Impact Awards is a part of the NHMC’s overall mission to spotlight the importance of accurate, fair and positive representation in media.

Each year, the organization honors individuals who are truly making an impact, shifting societal narratives and setting an example for Latine communities.

The 2024 honorees include:

Harvey Guillén, star of the hit FX series What We Do In The Shadows which is gearing up to premiere its sixth and final season. He will receive the Outstanding Performance in a Series Impact Award.

Issa López, a multi-hyphenate who most recently co-wrote and directed HBO’s True Detective Season 5 starring Jodie Foster. NHMC will recognize López’s achievements with the Trailblazer Impact Award.

Fede Alvarez, writer, director and executive producer of the upcoming feature Alien: Romulus, the seventh installment of the Alien franchise. NHMC will give him the Outstanding Film Director Impact Award.

Tatyana Ali, who most famously portrayed Ashley Banks in the hit comedy series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, will receive the Advocacy Impact Award for her advocacy and policy work in maternal health and reproductive justice.

The Los Angeles Football Club will be honored with the Community Impact Award for their commitment to multiculturalism and creating change for marginalized communities

Tubi will be honored with the For the People Impact Award for its diverse programming providing a platform for Latine series showcasing authentic representations of our communities.

“We are honored to celebrate these powerful figures who represent the present and future of the entertainment industry. This year’s honorees embody where our community is headed and are pushing their industries forward simply by taking up space and using their platforms to uplift other Latine creatives.,” said Brenda Victoria Castillo, President & CEO of the NHMC. “This year more than ever, it is imperative that we continue to celebrate our Latinidad in all aspects of our society, and NHMC is committed to ensuring that our community is recognized – not just at our gala, but in every space.”

HBO Releases First Footage of Issa Lopez-Directed “True Detective: Night Country”

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a night (in the) country for Issa López…

HBO has unveiled the first footage from True Detective: Night Country, which is written, directed and showrun by Mexican producer, writer and film director.

The anticipated fourth season of HBO’s Emmy-winning crime drama anthology series True Detective will debut on the premium cabler in 2023.

The new season starring two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster and actor-boxer Kali Reis picks up after the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, as the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.

The new True Detective footage came via a sizzle reel for HBO and HBO Max programming also teasing such upcoming shows as The Last of Us, The Idol and White House Plumbers, as well as new seasons of series like Perry Mason, Succession and Barry. While it reveals no new story information, it does offer a first look at Foster and Reis in uniform, and a sense of the thick winter atmosphere their Iceland-shot season is set against.

The newest season of the series created by Nic Pizzolatto was executive produced by Lopez alongside Foster, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak for Pastel, as well as Mari Jo Winkler, Chris Mundy, Alan Page Arriaga, Steve Golin, Richard Brown, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Cary Joji Fukunaga and Pizzolatto.

Night Country also stars John Hawkes, Christopher Eccleston, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Anna Lambe, Aka Niviâna, Isabella Star Lablanc and Joel D. Montgrand.

Issa López Developing Fourth Installment of HBO’s “True Detective” Series with Barry Jenkins

Posted on March 19, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Issa López is holding True to her at…

The Mexican producer, writer and film director is joining forces with Barry Jenkins to develop a fourth iteration of HBO’s True Detective.

The WarnerMedia-owned cable network is developing True Detective: Night Country (working title), a new take on the crime drama.

The series, created and written by Nic Pizzolatto, ran for three seasons between 2014 and 2019.

López will write, executive-produce and direct the pilot with Jenkins executive-producing via his collective Pastel alongside Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak.

Anonymous Content, which produced the first three installments will also executive produce with other True Detective EPs, so presumably Pizzolatto will be among those listed.

López is the writer and director of Mexican film Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven), which won a slew of awards over the last few years and received praise from the likes of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro.

The latter is also working with Lopez on a haunted western about the werewolf mythology. She is also working with Noah Hawley on Searchlight’s The Book of Souls and with Blumhouse on Our Lady of Tears.

The third season of True Detective aired on HBO in 2019 and starred Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff, set in the Ozarks. It was the follow up to 2015’s Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn-fronted series and the first season, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Issa López to Direct Her Original Screenplay “The Girl with a Thousand Names” for New Line

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Issa López has a thousand reasons to smile…

New Line has acquired the Mexican producer, writer and film director’s original screenplay The Girl with a Thousand Names.

Lopez will direct and produce the feature for HBO Max.

The Girl with a Thousand Names is the first original idea López has brought to the marketplace since the premiere of her acclaimed film Tigers Are Not Afraid.

She is currently in development on separate projects with producers Guillermo del Toro, Noah Hawley and Jason Blum.

Girl with a Thousand Names tells the fantastically real story of a child from another world, trapped in our broken reality… without documents, in a detention center for unaccompanied minors and children separated from their families at the U.S. border.

The film will be produced by López for her Peligrosa label alongside Macro’s Charles D. King and Poppy Hanks. The exec producers are Gaby Mena and Macro’s Greta Talia Fuentes.

Juan Ernesto Regalado Morales Wins Guillermo del Toro’s Jenkins-del Toro Scholarship

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Ernesto Regalado Morales is celebrating a special honor…

The Mexican filmmaker is this year’s winner of the Jenkins-del Toro Scholarship, which is awarded through an agreement between the Jenkins Foundation; the board of trustees of the Guadalajara International Film Festival, the University of Guadalajara, the University of Guadalajara AC Foundation and Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro.

With the honor, Regalado Morales receives a $60,000 scholarship.

Regalado received the honor in recognition of his first film Nendok entre lagunas, which was featured at Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal’s Ambulante Festival, and was described by the jury as “a work that demonstrates a transformative point of view, visual quality, a decisive capacity and commitment to his community and society.”

The film was selected by a jury that included del Toro, his longtime producer Beth Navarro, Mexican scream queen Issa Lopez, animator Jose Solorzano, film critic Silvestre Lopez Portillo and actor Daniela Schmidt.

Issa Lopez to Write & Direct Blumhouse’s “Our Lady of Tears,” Based on Epic article “The Haunting of Girlstown”

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

There are tears in Issa López’s future…

The 48-year-old Mexican writer and director will adapt and direct Our Lady of Tears for Blumhouse based on the Daniel Hernandez’s Epic magazine article “The Haunting of Girlstown,” which was published on Vox.

The article focuses on a mass hysteria epidemic with supernatural roots, that in 2007 spread through Villa de las Niñas, an all girls, Catholic boarding school in the outskirts of Mexico City. The school recruited and isolated socially neglected girls coming from families living in extreme poverty and in remote areas of Mexico.

The project is in the same supernatural spirit of López’s previous feature, Tigers Are Not Afraid, which followed children fighting for survival in a harsh real-life environment.

“The moment I read the Epic article, I knew I wanted to tell this story. I myself attended a Catholic school in Mexico City. I grew up on a steady diet of supernatural visitations and miracles, and of the real life horrors that young girls who grow up in poverty face every day in Mexico, and around the world. Having the chance to tell that story with Jason [Blum] and his team, producers of such socially incisive genre classics like Get Out, and of so many true horror gems, is a huge privilege. I couldn’t be more excited about this movie,” said López in a statement.

“The Blumhouse team was enthralled by the original article and Daniel’s deep reporting around such a terrifying and heartbreaking story. Ever since I first watched Tiger’s Are Not Afraid, I have wanted to find a project to collaborate on with Issa and I knew this was a perfect fit. I can’t wait for audiences to see her take on this material,” said Blumhouse co-founder and CEO,Jason Blum.

“Epic spent years tracking down former students, government officials and teachers to try to understand what happened at Girlstown. We learned that isolation can protect us from physical threats but our internal demons follow us wherever we go,” said Joshua Davis, co-founder, Epic.

Our Lady of Tears will be produced by Blumhouse in association with Epic Media.

Issa López to Write & Direct the Film Adaptation of the Short Story “Lost Souls”

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Issa Lópezis a lost soul…

The 48-year-old Mexican writer and director is set to write the script and direct an adaptation of the Matthew Baker short story Lost Souls, which Searchlight and Noah Hawley optioned last year.

The film is set in a world in which some babies are born without souls. A young expectant mother is sent to an unusual wellness center in the desert, with the hopes that it will improve her chances of delivering a healthy baby.

It’s one of several short stories written by Baker that turned into big movie deals. Hawley and his 26 Keysis turning Baker’s short story Why Visit Americainto an FXpilot Baker is writing and Hawley is executive producing. Hawley is producing two others based on Baker stories.

López won Best Director in the Horror Category at Fantastic Fest 2017 for her film Tigers Are Not Afraid, which was released by AMC Shudder.

She’s currently in development on a supernatural folklore film that Guillermo Del Torowill produce for Searchlight.

Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra’s “Good Manners” to Premiere at This Year’s Fantastic Fest

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra are bringing good manners to the Lone Star State…

Known for showcasing some of the best bizarre genre films from around the globe, Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest has announced their final wave of programming, which includes the North American premiere of Rojas and Dutra’s Good Manners.

The Brazilian and French-film centers on a lonely nurse named Clara, who is hired as a nanny by wealthy Ana. She hardly expects anything like the friendship she finds with the lonely, pregnant woman. However, both women have dark secrets that will engulf all that they hold dear.

Trailer GOOD MANNERS from UDI on Vimeo.

Also added to their programming slate are Issa Lopez’s film Tigers Are Not Afraid and Viktor Jakovleski’s documentary Brimstone & Glory.

Here’s a look at the Latin American films that form part of Fantastic Fest’s lineup:

BRIMSTONE & GLORY
Mexico, USA, 2017
Regional Premiere, 67 min
Director – Viktor Jakovleski
Tultepec is a small Mexican town that celebrates its love of fireworks with a yearly week-long festival. This festival is captured in a glorious documentary that is pure cinema.

GOOD MANNERS
Brazil, France, 2017
North American Premiere, 135 min
Directors – Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra
When lonely nurse Clara is hired as a nanny by wealthy Ana, she hardly expects anything like the friendship she finds with the lonely, pregnant woman. However, both women have dark secrets which will engulf all that they hold dear.

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID
Mexico, 2017
World Premiere, 83 min
Director – Issa López
When her mother suddenly disappears with no one to care for her, young Estrella ends up on the street and joins a gang of children, triggering a dangerous and tragic chain of events in the third feature from Mexican filmmaker Lopez.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: Issa Lopez