Juan Escobedo is an actor, director and photographer who was born and raised in San Diego, California, US.
Juan Escobedo is an actor, director and photographer who was born and raised in San Diego, California, US.
In 2007 Escobedo portrayed and directed a troubled war veteran in the short film Soy Soldado de Irak. The film generated numerous awards including the Swiss Cultural Program's Best Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival (2008), and the Cinema of Conscience Award from the Sonoma Valley Film Festival (2008). [1] It was most recently nominated for the prestigious Imagen Award (2009), which honors positive portrayals of Latinos in film and television. His other directorial work include Ruby, a film for Current TV. In 2018, Escobedo's other film Marisol, a short film that deals with the horrors of domestic violence and child abuse won the Best Dramatic Short at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival and Best Actress Awards for both leading Actresses at the Women's Independent Film Festival and the Playhouse West Film Festival. Marisol script was also inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Margaret Herrick Library permanent collection made available to researchers. [2]
Escobedo's film Marisol has become a film for creating awareness around child abuse and domestic violence. [3] [4] It continues to screen at film festivals most recently winning 3 awards for Best Director, Best Short Film and Best Child Actress at the San Diego Movie Awards. [5]
Escobedo began working with the Boyle Heights and East LA community in 2005 by implementing theater skits on HIV prevention at local schools. This led to working with Promotoras (community health workers) against violence and had maintained a strong relationship with the Promotoras from various nonprofits. His strong ties to Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles has influenced his film and photography work. In 2023, Escobedo received a fellowship from California Arts Council Creative Corps through Community Partners to direct and produce a documentary film with Las Promotoras against violence. [6]
The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) started publishing Juan Escobedo's photography in 2012 as part of the City of Los Angeles Heritage Month Celebrations which dates back to 1949 when Mayor Fletcher Bowron issued a proclamation to recognize African American Heritage Month. [7] Over time, the city has elected to celebrate various heritage months consistent with federally designated monthly observances. Many cities celebrate residents’ cultural heritage during these federally designated monthly observances. In 2023, Juan Escobedo's self portrait titled El Sombrero de Miguel Lopez, in honor of his late grandfather Miguel Lopez was selected by Los Angeles County Arts Commission to display at Gloria Molina Grand Park across the way from Los Angeles City Hall. The photo El Sombrero de Miguel Lopez honored his beloved grandfather who took care of him as a child by photographing his sombrero that was passed on from his father Juan Escobedo Meza Padilla and mother Piedad Renteria Escobedo. [8] [9]
Trash and Tears is a series of photographs Escobedo started in 2016 in which he photographs actors and models with trash around the city. It attempts to explore the issues of hoarding, mental health, income, graffiti and drug addiction through trash between non and homeless population. It's also a commentary on the carelessness of people refusing pick up their own trash or recycle. Therefore, accumulating in pockets throughout the city putting additional economic and men power burden on the City of Los Angeles. Oftentimes the photos are taken soon after homelessness encampments are dismantled, leaving personal and treasured belongings behind by homeless which others see as trash. [10]
In 2008 Escobedo founded The East Los Angeles Society of Film and Arts (TELASOFA) and the East LA Film Festival (ELAFF). TELASOFA is a non-profit organization dedicated to "Provoking Thought and Inspiring Solutions" for youth who are at risk of substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy and gang involvement [11] [12] [13] TELASOFA produces the East Los Angeles Film Festival (ELAFF) to create opportunities and mentorships for youth seeking to breakthrough into the film industry in Hollywood. ELAFF provides film classes throughout the year with a culmination of film projects screening alongside Hollywood professionals at the annual East LA Film Festival. ELAFF is able to produce the festival by maintaining strong relationships and collaborations with film studios, museums and nonprofits. [14] [15] [16]
The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1999 and took place on March 26, 2000, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 23 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by husband-and-wife producing team Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck and was directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Billy Crystal hosted the show for the seventh time. He first presided over the 62nd ceremony held in 1990 and had last hosted the 70th ceremony held in 1998. Three weeks earlier in a ceremony at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on March 4, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Salma Hayek.
José Antonio Plana is a Cuban-American actor and director. He is known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC television show Ugly Betty and for voicing Manuel "Manny" Calavera in the video game Grim Fandango.
La Piedad is a municipality located at in the north-west of the Mexican state of Michoacán, bordering Jalisco and Guanajuato. The municipal seat is the city of La Piedad de Cabadas. The original colonial name was San Sebastián. It is bordered by the town of Santa Ana Pacueco, Guanajuato. Both cities straddle the Lerma River. La Piedad's population was 106,490 inhabitants in the 2020 census. The municipality has an area of 284.11 km². It is bordered by the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato.
Real Women Have Curves is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Patricia Cardoso, based on the play of the same name by Josefina López, who co-authored the screenplay for the film with George LaVoo. The film stars America Ferrera as protagonist Ana García. It gained fame after winning the Audience Award for best dramatic film, and the Special Jury Prize for acting in the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. The film went on to receive the Youth Jury Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Humanitas Prize, the Imagen Award, and Special Recognition by the National Board of Review. According to the Sundance Institute, the film gives a voice to young women who are struggling to love themselves and find respect in the United States.
East of Hope Street is a 1998 award-winning film drama directed and produced by Nate Thomas. It was executive produced by Tim Russ who also stars in the film. East of Hope Street had a limited release in theaters beginning on November 5, 1999 by The Cinema Guild. It had a home video street date on September 21, 2004. The gritty, urban, fact-based story is loosely based on director Nate Thomas's 10 years of experience working as a counselor in a group home for pregnant teens in Los Angeles. Russ plays a role autobiographical of Thomas. The film has been called "timely and provocative" by the Los Angeles Daily News, "an emotional and powerful film" by KCOP-TV, "stark and unflinching" by Backstage, and "a testament to the human spirit" by The Austin Chronicle.
Anabell Gardoqui de la Reguera is a Mexican actress. She has starred in telenovelas, films, the HBO television series Eastbound & Down and Capadocia, the Amazon television series Goliath, and the 2006 comedy Nacho Libre.
Josefa Flores González, known professionally as Marisol or Pepa Flores, is a retired Spanish singer and actress who was an evolving icon in Spain since her first appearance in 1960 as a child star until her retreat from the spotlight in 1985.
Josefina López is a Chicana playwright, perhaps best known as the author of the play Real Women Have Curves. López is also the Founding Artistic Director of the CASA 0101 theater located in Boyle Heights, California, which began in 2000.
Jordan Walker-Pearlman is an American film director, screenwriter, film producer, and executive.
Before Night Falls is a 2000 American biographical drama film directed by Julian Schnabel. The film is based on both the autobiography of the same name by Reinaldo Arenas—published in English in 1993—as well as Jana Boková's 1990 documentary Havana.
Patrick Smith is an installation artist, animator and filmmaker. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). His formative years were spent as a storyboard artist for Walt Disney, and animation director for MTV's Daria and the Emmy-nominated Downtown. Smith spent five years in Singapore as a professor at the graduate film program for New York University Tisch School of the Arts, under artistic director/filmmaker Oliver Stone. Patrick is a fellow of the New York Foundation of the Arts and a curator for multiple international film and animation festivals. He lives and works in Montauk New York with his wife, Kaori Ishida and their daughter. The beginning of his animation career has been told by himself like this:
In 1994, I was in college, and one night decided to animate something strange. I didn't know how to draw, let alone animate, so I just did something abstract. A friend of mine told me I should put an logo on it and send it to MTV. So I mailed a VHS of it to "MTV Networks" the address I got from the phone book. About two weeks later I got a call from a guy named Abbey, who said that they wanted to buy it. I remember the day he called, because it was the same day that I got my rejection letter from Cal Arts. I re-animated the same thing, a bit tighter. The spot won a BDA award and a Jury Prize at the 1995 Holland Animation Festival. After I finished the ID, MTV offered me a job on Beavis and Butthead, which was my first ever studio job, and which brought me to New York City.
Patricia Cardoso is a Colombian and American filmmaker. She is best known for her 2002 film Real Women Have Curves, which centers around the experiences of a young Mexican-American woman navigating the challenges of family, culture, and body image. The film's lasting impact was recognized in 2019, when it was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry "as a cinematic treasure and worthy of preservation as part of America's patrimony". This honor made Cardoso the first Latinx woman director to have a film included in the registry.
Yvonne DeLaRosa is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, California, DeLaRosa has starred in theater, film and television and is an activist and philanthropist. She began her career starring in the Fox series "Señor White" and has since risen to fame as a respected actress and film maker. DeLaRosa holds a BA and MFA in theater, film and television from UCLA Film School in Los Angeles, California. Heralded as the "...new wave of Latino talent" by Jimmy Smits when she was honored as a rising star at the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts in Washington, DC and accepted the honor by then president Bill Clinton.
Marisol Calero is a Puerto Rican actress and singer.
Eva Perón: The True Story, also known simply as Eva Perón, is a 1996 Argentine historical-biographical drama film directed by Juan Carlos Desanzo and starring Esther Goris and Víctor Laplace. It was written by José Pablo Feinmann, based on the life of Eva Perón. It was released on 24 October 1996, and won 3 "Cóndor" awards by the Argentine Film Critics Association in 1997, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress for Goris.
Ryan Piers Williams is an American actor, director, and writer.
Phillip Rodriguez is an American documentary filmmaker and veteran content provider for PBS.
Chelo Alvarez-Stehle is a Spanish and American journalist and documentary filmmaker. In Japan, she worked as managing editor for International Press En Español weekly and as Tokyo correspondent for El Mundo daily. As a documentary filmmaker she is best known for Sands of Silence [es], winner of the 59th Southern California Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club for Best Feature Documentary.
Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage is a 2016 documentary film that addresses the spectrum of sexual violence, from child sexual abuse and clergy abuse to rape and sex trafficking. It was directed, written and produced by filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle.
Madregilda is a 1993 film directed by Francisco Regueiro which stars Juan Echanove, José Sacristán, and Barbara Auer.