Live Action Jury Awards

LALIFF 2022 brings three competitive categories: Live Action Shorts, Animated Shorts and Episodic Series.

Live Action Shorts

A jury of three judges will select the Fotokem Award for Best Live Action Short and the Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo Award for Best Latina Director of a Live Action Short.

CARLOS RAFAEL BETANCOURT

Cuban filmmaker and AFI Alumnus based in Los Angeles. He has more than ten years of experience in film, television and commercials. His oeuvre deploys stylized visuals, magical realism, nature and social drama. His feature film The Last Rafter (2020) was the opening night film for the 19th edition of LALIFF. His latest feature Borrowed, which had its world premiere at the Miami Film Festival (MFF), is part of this year's LALIFF Official Selection.

JULISSA CALDERON

Actress, writer, producer, and director from Miami. She is best known for playing the dynamic role of Yessika Castillo, a strong-willed activist, in the MACRO/Netflix series, "Gentified". Prior to that, she was a digital content creator where her videos garnered roughly 100 million views across digital platforms. She is passionate about illuminating and celebrating Afro-Latinx women and culture - whether it's by speaking at colleges across the country, or through collaborations with brands like McDonald's HACER Scholarship Program - to which she's been an ambassador for the past three years. She is also the founder of MANIFEST THAT SH*T!, a journal for passion, gratitude and manifesting one's dreams. She can currently be seen in season 2 of "Gentefied", and Gloria Calderon Kellet's new Amazon series, "With Love".

YIRA VILARO

Drama Development Executive at Amazon TV Studios. Before that, she was Director of Development at MACRO, a prestigious media company focused on underrepresented voices. A bilingual Puerto Rican raised in Mexico, she graduated from Northwestern University before her passion for film brought her to LA. Before MACRO, she worked in development and production at Imagine Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Vendome Pictures, as well as at talent agency WME. She has been involved with several amazing films and series including Sorry to Bother You, Fences, Mudbound, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Nine Days, Blue Bayou, Source Code, Lowriders and American Made, as well as the upcoming TV series "Citadel", starring Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden, and "Terminal List", starring Chris Pratt, among others.

FILMS PARTICIPATING: