Back to All News
Meet the New Class of the NALIP Latino Lens: Narrative Short Film Incubator for Women of Color
Pete Corona
Director of Drama Series, Netflix
Vannessa Sanchez
Programs Director, NALIP
Social Impact
03 March 2023
United States
Last year, our team opened applications for the second annual NALIP Latino Lens : Narrative Short Film Incubator for Women of Color, a program supported by Netflix's Fund for Creative Equity. Today, were thrilled to introduce the 2022 class of filmmakers: Holly M. Kaplan (Sunflower Girl), Nicole Otero (Wait for Night), Akilah Ak' Walker and Diana Gonzalez-Morett (Pedacito de Carne), Jhanvi Motla (Mirage) and Frida Perez (Detox).
These women stood out for their compelling storytelling visions from the hundreds of applications received this year. As part of this program, the filmmakers received a $25,000 grant to produce a new short film. Throughout that process, they were supported by executives at the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) and Netflix, who provided creative feedback during development as well as guidance through post-production. The films will showcase at a special screening at NALIP's Diverse Women in Media Forum on March 30, 2023, and the filmmakers will be invited to attend various industry events through NALIP to help expand their professional networks.
We're also excited to share that the 2021 inaugural class of filmmakers have seen national acclaim for their films. Some highlights:
Eileen Alvarezs Mama Retreat had its premiere at LALIFF, and has gone on to play at New York Latino Film Festival, LA Latinx Film Festival, Screamfest Horror Film Festival, Female Voice Rock, Santa Monica Film Festival, San Francisco Latino Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival and Chelsea Film Festival.
Caroline Guos Firecracker had its world premiere at the 40th OutFest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, and was an Official Selection at the 26th Urbanworld Film Festival, 45th Asian American International Film Festival, 23rd San Diego Asian Film Festival and others.
Eunice Leviss Ro & The Stardust recently won Best Narrative Short at the 25th Annual Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival, and has played in 4 other Oscar Qualifying fests, including American Black Film Festival, Urbanworld, and the Pan African Film Festival where it was nominated for Best Short Film. Up next, the film is scheduled to screen at the Female Voices Rock Film Festival and the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival in May 2023.
Angelita Mendozas The Blue Drum premiered at Screamfest Horror Film Festival, and played at New York Latino Film Festival, Reel Sisters of the Diaspora, San Francisco Another Hole in the Head, Female Voices Rock, Manchester International Film Festival and San Diego Latino Film Festival.
Our teams are excited to be part of these filmmakers' journeys as they create films that will allow more people to see themselves and their experiences represented on screen, and we hope that programs like these will continue to be launchpads for women of color in the entertainment industry. Learn more about this year's class below, and join us in celebrating all the filmmakers' achievements!
Sunflower Girl by Holly M. Kaplan
Logline: When a 13-year-old Chinese-American girl has the opportunity to go skateboarding with her crush, it comes at the cost of neglecting her familial duties.
Bio: Holly M. Kaplan is a second-generation Chinese-American filmmaker, born and raised in New York City. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Film & Media Arts at American University and earned the Ron Sutton Award for Visual Literacy. While studying abroad at FAMU International in Prague, Czech Republic, she shot her first short, The Lesson (Lekce), on 16mm. Following the reception of her short film, Holly became an apprentice to the late Ben Barenholtz on his feature film, Alina. Currently, Holly is working as a Directors Assistant on HBO Max's Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin under directors Lisa Soper and Alex Pillai. Inspired and driven by ties to her Cantonese heritage, Holly is invested in bringing narratives about the Asian diaspora and diversity to the forefront.
Wait for Night by Nicole Otero
Logline: Two siblings return to their late father's house for the last time, but they encounter an already unfamiliar environment in the place that holds their past. WAIT FOR NIGHT is a triptych of loss in America's Southwest.
Bio: Nicole Otero began as a self-taught filmmaker. Learning through experience, she worked extensively on set and in post. In 2020, Otero's directorial narrative debut, SLIP, was acquired & distributed by Kino Lorber/Dedza, as part of a collection highlighting emerging directors. SLIP is currently streaming on Criterion Channel. Born in a mixed, Mexican-American family, her work explores memory, loss and identity. With emphasis on cinema's sonic possibilities, she is interested in haptic, embodied cinema.
Otero has also edited several films for major museum exhibitions, including MoMA, the New Museum, the Hammer, and more. She edited THE AFRICAN DESPERATE, a narrative feature, which premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam and New Directors/New Films 2022 at Lincoln Center.
Pedacito de Carne by Akilah Ak' Walker and Diana Gonzalez-Morett
Logline: Sandra finds herself in a new role as a caregiver for her mother living with Frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Burnt out by the nonsense that is social service, the relentless pile-on of caregiving demands, and the heartbreak of slowly losing parts of her mother, Sandra risks it all and takes a night off.
Team Bio: Creative collaborators since 2015, acting, devising theater, writing, and recently producing our short film, Ivar Tunnel: Shook Ones, written and directed by Akilah an
Most recent headlines
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
09/05/2025
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Studio Technologies said the Harvard University athletics department has integrated Dante-enabled equipment from the vendor into its broadcast ...
09/05/2025
NEW YORK ITN, a provider of a local linear supply side platform, and Magnite, a independent sell-side advertising company, have announced that they working toge...
09/05/2025
LEEDS, U.K. Nugen Audio has launched a new speech intelligibility plug-in, DialogCheck and offered up quotes from technologists working at places like Netflix p...
09/05/2025
AJA I/O Gear: The Heart of Broadcast Solutions' VEGO Mobile Editing Solution
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
When working remotely on broadcas...
09/05/2025
What do they teach in an Advanced Adobe After Effects Course?
Roland Kahlenberg May 8, 2025
0 Comments
There aren't many advanced After Effects co...
09/05/2025
Larry Jordan Sits with Trevor Morgan of OpenDrives at NAB 2025
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
Trevor Morgan, COO of OpenDrives, shares how the co...
09/05/2025
Berklee Popular Music Institute Announces UK Festival Debut and Tour Dates For the first time, BPMI will bring Berklee-affiliated artists and students to the ...
08/05/2025
A sinister fairy infiltrates a desperate family in Kenneth Dagatan's In My Mother's Skin, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo co...
08/05/2025
As expected, continued weak demand from key sales markets and declining economic...
08/05/2025
A new three-part series is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One
(Image: The Christie Archive Trust)
The BBC has announced Agatha Christie's Endless Night, a...
08/05/2025
For skyward-bound operators, training focuses on the unique aspects of flying ISR missions, including the management of onboard surveillance equipment and the e...
08/05/2025
The cable industry has told the Federal Communications Commission it supports the National Association of Broadcasters' proposal to allow broadcasters to us...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Consumer Technology Association has continued its opposition to mandates requiring that NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 tuners be included in new TV sets, sa...
08/05/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real time visualization, has named Paul Maroni as Vice Pres...
08/05/2025
This year's UK Pavilion in hall 5, once again managed by Tradefair, will provide visitors with the unique opportunity to discuss and be involved in cutting ...
08/05/2025
Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its latest energy-efficient transmitters and 5G Broadcast technologies, designed to support network operators and content provider...
08/05/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group has tapped Bill Nardi as vice president of station operations, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day broadcast operations ...
08/05/2025
SEATTLE LumaTouch is partnering with CNN Academy to improve mobile storytelling techniques and support training across all of CNN Academy's training simulat...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Society of Broadcast Engineers has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission that support a proposal by the National Association ...
08/05/2025
Senior adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake has announced that One America News Network (OAN) will provide newsfeed services for fre...
08/05/2025
EdMon Expands as AI-Driven Post Production Workflows Gains Traction in Sweden an...
08/05/2025
Using Luma Mattes in Adobe Premiere Pro
Graham Quince May 7, 2025
0 Comments
This very quick tutorial shows you how to take an RGB clip and apply its ...
08/05/2025
OpenDrives Unveils Free Your Data' Initiative with New Astraeus Cloud-Nativ...
08/05/2025
Student Spotlight: Grigori Balasanyan The Armenian composer, who was named Boston Conservatory at Berklees 2025 student commencement speaker, talks about his ...
08/05/2025
08 May 2025
VEON Shareholders Re-elect Board at 2025 AGM, Founder Augie Fabela ...
08/05/2025
Comedy and entertainment channel U&Dave bring back their #1 ranked programme of ...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Unveils New Premieres Spanning Film and Music
Slick Rick's Victory with Idris Elba a...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces Lineup for Inaugural Storytelling Summit
11-Day Industry Event Launches with Tal...
08/05/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Vizrt's Nicholas Jameson on AI in Workflows, Pushing Boundarie...
08/05/2025
Creating Alternative Brand Experiences: Live Sports in the Age of Fortnite, Meta...
08/05/2025
PGA TOUR's David Piccolo: Advanced Graphics and Virtual Production Tools are...
08/05/2025
Tech Focus: Advancing Immersion in Sports Broadcasting with AR and Virtual Produ...
08/05/2025
Expect even more chaos this July with Harriet Webb leading the returning cast, p...
08/05/2025
Back to All News
Now in Production: Comedy Action Film Husbands in Action'...
08/05/2025
TenneT relies on Arvato Systems for market communication
Energy industry: Impressive market communication know-how and system integration expertise
G tersloh...
08/05/2025
When Taiki Hamamoto, 22, came across a Hanafuda deck at his local game shop, he was intrigued. He had grown up playing the traditional Japanese card game with f...
08/05/2025
The Liveline is now open , said Joe Duffy earlier today, as he previewed this af...
08/05/2025
RT , in association with the BBC, Screen Ireland and Cineflix Rights has reveale...
08/05/2025
Artificial intelligence is helping identify and treat diseases faster with better results for humankind. Natural disasters like wildfires are next.
Fires in th...
08/05/2025
Calling all wiseguys - 2K's acclaimed Mafia franchise is available to stream...
08/05/2025
As AI use cases continue to expand - from document summarization to custom software agents - developers and enthusiasts are seeking faster, more flexible ways t...
07/05/2025
Discovering music should feel effortless and fun. That's why Spotify continu...
07/05/2025
SBS and NITV mark National Reconciliation Week with compelling premieres recogni...
07/05/2025
SBS commences search for a new Western Sydney production hub location
7 May, 2025
Media releases
SBS has today launched a Request for Expressions of Intere...
07/05/2025
Warsaw, Poland - April 28, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest March All Screens Video Landscap...
07/05/2025
LONDON Movie fans hoping to save money by waiting until their favorite new films appear on streaming services will have to wait a bit longer now, according to a...
07/05/2025
MECCA, Saudi Arabia Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA) has selected Grass Valley to provide a major technology upgrade of its broadcast facility here....
07/05/2025
Sony and Nevion provide guidance on IP network architecture options for live pro...
Back to All News
