The New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) Announces 2012 Awards at a Ceremony on Sunday, August 19

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -08/19/12)- The HBO® New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) presented its 2012 awards at a ceremony on Sunday, August 19, in the categories of Best Domestic Feature, Best International Feature, Best Director, Best Documentary and Best Short. This year, NYILFF presented over 30 features, documentaries and short films in English and Spanish, reflecting America's cultural diversity as well as the global urban experience. For more information, log on to nylatinofilm.com.

"This year's festival line up was outstanding in its quality and range of diversity," said Calixto Chinchilla, NYILFF Founder and Co-Executive Director. "We hope to continue to bring the highest quality films and stories to the New York community."

"In thirteen years, the festival has gained a reputation as the most prestigious urban film event in the United States," said Elizabeth Gardner, NYILFF Co-Executive Director. "We are proud to bring our sponsors a great experience and return on their investment in the festival and filmmakers."

2012 NYILFF WINNERS

BEST SHORT: "PESCADORA"
20 Min. - PERU & USA
Directors: Daniel Enrique García and Ahna Terpstra
Dora has always dreamed of becoming a fisherman like her father. However, everyone in her Peruvian fishing village wants her to marry instead. Presented by Avid. Winner receives a Media Composer 6.

BEST DOMESTIC FEATURE: "UNDER MY NAILS"
NY Premiere/100 Min.
Director: Arí Maniel Cruz; Writer: Kisha Tikina Burgos; Producers: Martín Arias, Arí Maniel Cruz, Kisha Tikina Burgos, Enrique Julia, Bobby De Jesús, Andrei Nemcik.
Cast: Marilú Acosta, Maite Bonilla, Kisha Tikina Burgos, Iván Camilo, Dolores Pedro.
Solimar, a Puerto Rican woman who works in a nail salon, becomes intrigued by the violent sexual practices of her new neighbors, Roberto and Perpetuel. When Perpetuel returns home to the DR, Solimar goes from voyeur to participant in Roberto's games of sex and power. Presented by HBO®. Winner receives $5,000 cash award.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: "EL RUMOR DE LAS PIEDRAS"
(The Rumble of the Stones)
New York Premiere/Venezuela/ 100 Min.
Director/Producer: Alejandro Bellame Palacios
Writers: Alejandro Bellame Palacios & Valentina Saa
Cast: Alberto Alifa, Veronica Arellano, Aminta de Lara, Rossana Fernandez, Ariette Torres
Single mother Delia struggles to raise her sons, William and Santiago, in a shantytown of Caracas, but it seems that everyday they slip farther away from her and closer to a life of crime and delinquency. Presented by El Diario-La Prensa. Winner receives $1,000 cash award.

BEST DIRECTOR: ALEJANDRO BELLAME PALACIOS for "EL RUMOR DE LAS PIEDRAS"
Best Director Award Presented by Tribeca Film Institute and Heineken Voces. Winner receives $1,000 cash award.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: "EL MÉDICO: THE CUBATÓN STORY"
New York Premiere/Cuba, Sweden/85 Minutes
Director: Daniel Fridell
Producers: Thomas Allercrantz, Daniel Fridell, Ingemar Johansson, Adel Kjellström, Margus Öunapuu, Petri Rossi
High up in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where Castro's revolution began, "El Médico," a doctor and musician, serves the cause. When a Swedish music producer sees "El Médico" as the next big thing, Communist ideals collide with capitalist dreams, with the magic and beauty of Cuba and her music as backdrop. Presented by HBO®. Winner receives $1,000 cash award.

HBO®/ NYILFF SHORT FILM COMPETITION WINNER:
"THE ACTING LESSON" by Carmen Peláez
Written by: Carmen Peláez
Directors: Carmen Peláez and Nicolas Calzada
Cast: Brigitte Khali and Wanda Arriaga

HBO and the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) today announced that "The Acting Lesson," an original screenplay by Carmen Peláez, has been chosen as the 2012 winner of the HBO/NYILFF Short Film Competition. The screenplay tells the story of Emily, a rising starlet who interviews her director's maid Pepa, claiming that she is doing research for her next big movie role. But when the questions get personal, Pepa is forced to delve deep into her own history, erasing the line between telenovela and real life.

In addition to receiving the $15,000 grand prize, an HBO creative executive will serve as a mentor to Peláez and consult during the production of the winning script to film. The short, which is being shot in the Miami area and co-directed by Peláez and Nicholas Calzada, was exhibited during screenings at the New York International Latino Film Festival, August 13-19, in New York City.

THE 2012 NYILFF JURY

DOCUMENTARY JURY
Cristina Ibarra
Based in New York City, Chicana filmmaker Cristina Ibarra's films are inspired by her homeland of the US/Mexico border. Her PBS documentary, "Las Marthas," will be completed this winter. "The Last Conquistador," her documentary collaboration, was broadcast on POV in 2008. Her short films, "Dirty Laundry: A Homemade Telenovela" and "Grandma's Hip Hop" have also been on PBS. She's a NYILFF award-winning filmmaker with her mini-film "Wheels of Change." She's a founding member of fulana.org, a Latina interdisciplinary collective, and SubCine.com, a Latino self-distribution filmmaker collective. See her work online: UndocumentedFilms.com.

Raphaela Neihausen
Raphaela Neihausen is Executive Director of the weekly doc series Stranger Than Fiction at Manhattan's IFC Center and the annual festivals DOC NYC (New York's Documentary Film Festival) and the Montclair Film Festival. She produced the documentary "Miss Gulag" (supported by the Ford Foundation and Sundance Documentary Fund) that premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and went on to be broadcast worldwide. She holds a BSFS/MA from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, graduating with honors.

Araceli Cruz
Araceli Cruz is a California native, covering arts & entertainment as Senior Associate Editor at the prominent Village Voice. Prior to making her quest to the East Coast, she majored in Journalism at the San Francisco State University, and left her mark in the media world as Features Reporter at The Press-Enterprise and Editor at nocheLatina. She also contributes her talent today as a Freelance writer in a diverse range of media. Her inspiration extends from, and towards, her involvement in the art world, contributing her own artwork as part of the art collective called Openings. You can follow Araceli on Facebook and Twitter @chelipj.

DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL FEATURES JURY
Sheila Walcott
A graduate of Temple University's Film & Media Arts Program, Sheila Walcott spent the first half of her career in talent management working with various A-listers like John C. Reilly, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jim Carey. She later transitioned into television, developing content for Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. While at Overbrook, Sheila worked on The CW show, ALL OF US, as well as TNT's HAWTHORNE. Combining her knowledge of talent and packaging with story development, Sheila is currently a Director of Development at HBO Films.

Tamir Muhammad
Tamir Muhammad currently serves as Director of Feature Programming at the Tribeca Film Institute where he's responsible for directing and developing programs such as Tribeca All Access, TFI Sloan Fund, and other initiatives. He started his career with Tribeca in the office of Founder Jane Rosenthal during the inaugural year of the Tribeca Film Festival. Since that first year he has held several positions at numerous other festivals including The New York International Latino Film Festival and Urbanworld. Earning his B.F.A. at New York University (Tisch School of the Arts), Tamir also went on to serve as an international staff member for the University, traveling to such countries as South Africa, China, Brazil, and Cuba. He currently serves on the board for Firelight Media and Moving Mountains, Inc. along with consulting for other art organizations. Tamir also has several years of film and television production experience to his credit dating back to a stint at Department of Film (Goldcrest) and has scouted and developed the careers of several filmmakers.

Mario Diaz
Mario is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and editor. He has directed 5 independent feature-length documentaries, including "Bazooka," and "Viva Cepeda!" (HBO Latino). As a film editor, some of his recent credits include: "Unspooled" (a U.S. theatrical release), "Generation Meds," and "Leap of Faith." In addition to films, Mario has also edited long-form programming for broadcast television including "Worst Cooks in America" for the Food Network, "Design Star" for HGTV, "Unfaithful" for the Oprah Network, and "Ink Master" for SpikeTV.

Mario has also served as programming adviser for various Latino film festivals and is currently the documentary film programmer for the San Diego Latino Film Festival.

SHORT FILMS JURY
Renata Florio
Chief Creative Officer
Born in Brazil, Renata has close to 20 years of experience as a creative and executive creative director at agencies such as DM9/DDB, AlmapBBDO, F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis and most recently Strawberry Frog, from where she joined Wing. Her work has garnered major domestic and international awards, such as Cannes (8 Lions), the New York Festival, el Ojo de Iberoamerica, to name just a few. Renata has worked in pretty much every category and has a long list of clients which include General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Procter and Gamble, Sanofi Aventis, Unilever, C&A, Citibank, Bradesco, Itau, Sadia, Pepsico, Inbev and many others.

Ernesto Quiñonez
Ernesto Quiñonez is from Spanish Harlem, in New York City. Before his first publication he was heralded by the Village Voice as a "writer on the verge." His debut, "Bodega Dreams," has become a landmark in contemporary literature and is required reading in many high schools and colleges around the country; the New York Times claimed the novel as a "New Immigrant Classic." He is a Sundance Screenwriters Lab alumni who is currently an Associate professor at Cornell University's MFA program.

Alberto Ferreras
Alberto Ferreras is a New York based writer and filmmaker, author of the award-winning novel "B as in Beauty," creator and director of the "Habla" series for HBO Latino, co-creator of the HBO Family animated series "El Perro y el Gato," and writer and director of the web-series "Madres y Comadres" for Kmart. His work on film has been presented at the Berlin Film Festival and the British Film Institute. He has directed ad campaigns for Walgreens, Verizon Wireless, Wise, HBO, HBO Latino, V-me, and he has worked as media consultant for MTV, Nickelodeon, HBO, the Meredith Corporation, Sesame Workshop, Cris Morena Group, Source Communications, Animus Group, the Joe Torre Foundation, and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, among others. He has been a guest speaker at the Smithsonian Latino Center, Dartmouth College, Wellesley College, NALIP, The Brooklyn Book Festival, and El Barrio Museum in New York City. Before joining Latino Media Works, Ferreras was Executive Producer at HBO Creative Services and Creative Director at V-me.

NYILFF 2012 SPONSORS
The 2012 NYILFF is presented by HBO® and HBO Latino® and made possible with the additional support of American Airlines, Daily News/Viva, NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47, 103.5 KTU, Z100, Power 105.1 and Wing Advertising. The NYILFF is also proud to have Aquafina, Barefoot Wine, Café Bustelo, General Motors, Heineken, Macy's and Pepsi as Benefactors. Media partners consist of El Diario, El Especial/El Especialito Newspaper, Hispanic PRBlog, Hispanicize, HOMBRE Magazine, HuffPost LatinoVoices, Latina Media Ventures, LatinTRENDS, The Village Voice and Marketwire, as the exclusive wire partner. Venue partners include Clearview Chelsea Cinemas 9, Columbia University Medical Center's Office of Government & Community Affairs, Imagenation Cinema Foundation and Mount Sinai Hospital. The Industry partners are AVID and SAG-AFTRA. Technology and Creative partners include Analog Digital, Click3x, Eleet Tech, Heard City and spoon+fork. Special Thanks to the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, the New York Latin Media and Entertainment Commission and Reyes Entertainment.

ABOUT NYILFF
Launched in 1999, the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) is now the premier Urban Latino film event in the country. The NYILFF's mission is to showcase the works of the hottest emerging Latino filmmaking talent in the U.S. and Latin America, offer expansive images of the Latino experience, and celebrate the diversity and spirit of the Latino community. Programming includes the flagship film festival in NYC, new music and art showcases, family and community events, scholarships for aspiring filmmakers, and a nationally recognized short film competition in partnership with HBO. The NYILFF is the only film event to have had the endorsement of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's NYC Latin Media and Entertainment Commission since its formation in 2003.