Mentors

The five professional filmmakers that selected applicants will be paired with to share knowledge and give guidance on craft and career.

ALICIA MARIE AGRAMONTE

Executive Producer
USA

Alicia Marie Agramonte was born in Oakland, California and grew up in a military family. She has lived in Japan and England as well as various states in the US but ultimately credits Baltimore, Maryland as her hometown. Agramonte is a proud HBCU Alum of Morgan State University. She got her start on set of Netflix’s House of Cards during her sophomore year of college. She continued to work in production for over 6 years, having worked in various capacities on projects such as “Creed”, HBO’s “Show Me a Hero” and “VEEP” before moving on to BET Networks as Production Coordinator. Alicia currently serves as the Director of Development of Film at Revelations Entertainment.

JOHNNY HENDRIX HINESTROZA

Director, Producer, Writer
Colombia

Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza is a film director, writer and producer born in Quibdó, Chocó (Colombia). Jhonny gained international recognition with his feature directorial debut Chocó (2011), that premiered at the 62nd edition of the Berlinale. His filmography as director also includes Saudó (2016) and Candelaria (2017), awarded Best Director at the Giornate degli Autori section of the Venice Film Festival and was part of the Official Selection of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival the same year.

DIANA PERALTA

Director, Producer, Writer
USA

Diana Peralta is a filmmaker, producer, and writer from New York City. Her debut feature De lo Mío (2019) had its world premiere as the closing night film of BAMcinemaFest and it was an Official Selection of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival the same year. The film was acquired by HBO. De lo Mío was awarded Best Narrative Feature at IndieMemphis Film Festival and Best Film at Riverrun International Film Festival. Diana was featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film”. Her work as a producer on the short documentary “La Feria Concreta” was screened as part of the Dominican Republic’s first pavilion installation at the 2014 Venice Biennale of Architecture.

CISELY SALDANA

Producer
USA / Dominican Republic

Cisely Saldana is co-founder of Cinestar Pictures along with sisters Mariel and Zoe. While specializing in the development of strong, character driven stories, Cinestar specializes in telling stories that deliver honest portrayals of women regardless of age, gender, ethnicity/race, religion, sexual orientation or any other social or personal characteristics. Cinestar is producing FROM SCRATCH at Netflix, which is an adaptation from of Tembi Locke’s memoir, FROM SCRATCH. Additionally, they have projects in development at Paramount, HBO, HBO Max, Disney + and CBS. Cisely has a strong operation professional with a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) focused in Business Administration and Management, General from Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus.
Cinestar Pictures is repped by CAA and LBI.

OSCAR TORRES

Writer, Producer

Oscar Torres is the writer and producer of Innocent Voices, a film directed by Luis Mandoki, that went out to win over 70 National and International Awards including Mexico’s official submission to the 77th Academy Awards and the Berlin International Film Festival’s Best Picture award. He was also a writer, creative and script consultant on the runaway hit Instructions Not Included starring and directed by Eugenio Derbez, which became the most successful Spanish Speaking film of all time. His latest work 7th & Union starring Mexican star Omar Chaparro which was shot during the pandemic in July, 2020 in Los Angeles is currently in post-production. His production company Mango Tree is in development of several projects including Te Adoro (I Love You) a modern day musical, and last but not least the long awaited “Innocent Voices – The Series” which tells the story of Chava arriving in the United States, currently in negotiations through CAA.