Joel Novoa from Latinx Directors: We plan to build bridges with the entire community, even outside the US
New Latinx Directors database
Flor Singer|28 de julio de 2020
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Barely 4% of directors and 3% of producers out of 1,200 outstanding films made between 2007 and 2018 are Latinos. When speaking of Latina women, the gap is even larger, and LatinxDirectors.com appears in the light of these statistics. It is a database that gathers them to be able to visualize them in the US market.
The directors Alberto Belli (La Casa de las Flores), Aurora Guerrero (13 Reasons Why), Joel Novoa (Arrow), and Diego Velasco (Orange Is the New Black) are the drivers behind Latinx Directors. On its launching day, there were already 75 names and 100 more are in the process of verification of credentials.
“In the discussion of projects, it is said that there is no Latino talent. That is why we think that making a Google page of Latino directors is a way to eliminate those barriers and tell them that there are no excuses to not have them in the productions" comments Novoa, a Venezuelan based in Los Angeles for ten years.
Latinos are almost 20% of the US population, but their presence in the industry is not proportional. "Entering the field is very difficult and more so for a Latino, because there is no straight line for the rise, many stay in the lower ranks".
The projection Mexican directors have had in the Academy Awards opened a path, but more is necessary, especially due to the global demand for Latino content. "We have been doing thematic Latina series for Latinos who hired people from the US. This is changing."
LatinxDirectors.com plans to build bridges with the entire community, even outside the US.