LALIFF Grant Recipients Unveiled

Dave McNary

Variety

Dec 4, 2020

The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival has selected five Afro Latino directors for the inaugural Latinx Inclusion Fellowship Series, sponsored by Netflix.

The inaugural fellows are Lorena Durán; writer and director Justin Floyd; filmmaker Kase Peña; director Monica Suriyage and artist and director Tamara Shogaolu. Each fellow will be awarded a $20,000 grant to produce a short and will receive individualized mentorship, one-on-one meetings with industry leaders and various networking opportunities. Their completed films will premiere as part of the 2021 version of LALIFF.

“The time is now for diverse voices to have their stories told and we are proud to be able to offer our fellows the platform to have their voices heard,” said Edward James Olmos, co-founder of LALIFF and the Latino Film Institute. “We know that our first group of fellows will make a lasting impact on the industry and help to open doors for our future fellows.”