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The MCU Defends Their First LGBTQ+ Latina Character

“‘I understand that certain lands have certain rules and I live in a land where our rules are that of inclusion,” she shared. “And we will continue to fight for inclusion in every place, city, and state so that every kid that doesn’t see themselves can at least see a tiny little bit of who they can become.’ Gomez said she is proud of what America will mean to Latinas, who are often depicted in media stereotypically. In this case, she becomes the first LGBTQ+ Latina superhero in the MCU.”
https://deadline.com/2022/05/marvel-america-chavez-victoria-alonso-xochitl-gomez-doctor-strange-representation-1235015500/

The Mandalorian, a Star Wars Show, is Bringing Hope for Latinx Fans

“We see… us. No CGI. No heavy makeup, no unrecognizable face. Just the face of a Latin man. Battered and bruised no doubt. But it’s… us. At last, we see ourselves in Star Wars. Not as a villain or dastardly criminal. Not as cannon fodder. As the vulnerable hero, a compassionate leading man—as a human being.”
https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/onscreen/apontemandalorian/

Jenna Ortega is Representing Wednesday Addams’ Latina Heritage

The Addams Family has been a touchstone of American culture for generations starting as comic strips in 1938 before being adapted into movies and television shows. With so many renditions and portrayals, coming up with nuanced takes on the character is a tall order. But Ortega took that as an opportunity to embrace an aspect of Wednesday that has never been fully embraced: her Latina heritage.”
https://remezcla.com/film/watch-jenna-ortega-wednesday-addams-netflix-latina/ 

Latinos Are Finally Getting Their First Superhero in The New DC Film ‘Blue Beetle’

“My goal with finding the family was to have a group of authentic people, not only as Latinos, but authentic in their accents and in the experience in general, it was very important to me that the oldest members of the family were from Mexico. And more than just being Mexican, it is about honoring these amazing and beloved actors from Mexico who have paved the way not only in Latin American cinema,”
https://aldianews.com/en/culture/screen/meet-first-latino-superhero/

The Inclusion of Latinos in Marvels’ New Anticipated Film, Wakanda Forever, is Just the Beginning

“He has an indigenous ancestry. There isn’t a lot of representation of that in American cinema. It’s a lot easier to dream that you can be something if you can see it. To be able to see that representation is important. When we don’t see ourselves represented in movies, TV shows and comic books, the message that we receive is that we don’t exist. I think [casting Huerta] can only do great things for Latinos in the industry.”
https://www.sacurrent.com/movies-tv/marvel-writer-and-artist-terry-blas-excited-about-latino-inclusion-in-wakanda-forever-29565942/

Ana De Armas’ Marilyn Monroe Accent Enlightened the Public about Monroes’ Heritage

“The clips of de Armas’ dialogues as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde have left viewers divided over the 34-year-old Cuba native’s accent. De Armas has previously used her natural Cuban accent throughout most of her roles in Hollywood films. Prior to the release of the trailer for Blonde, the aforementioned detail caused many to question whether De Armas would be able to portray Monroe’s unique breathy accent.”
https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/ana-de-armas-marilyn-monroe-accent-sparks-debate-latter-s-latina-roots/

Colorblind Casting Does Not Solve the Lack of Representation On and Off Camera

“But his success hasn’t come without compromises. Isaac is open about the choices he’s made in his career including dropping his last name, Hernández. “Starting out as an actor, you immediately worry about being pigeonholed or typecast,” he said to the magazine In. “I don’t want to just go up for the dead body, the gangster, the bandolero, whatever. I don’t want to be defined by someone else’s idea of what an Oscar Hernández should be playing.” His tendency to play characters of different backgrounds extends to his new Star Wars character, whom Isaac has described as “non-ethnic.” Notably, he didn’t say “white” or “racially ambiguous,” instead referring to his character’s absence of ethnicity.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/oscar-isaac-and-the-case-against-colorblind-casting/421668/ 

How the Spider-Verse From The MCU is Changing The Game

“The beauty of the Spider-Verse is that it’s welcoming to all. No one character is carrying the weight of the universe, and good or bad, they all help to raise each other up. Proving that no matter what part of the Americas someone hails from, they can don their own Spider-Emblem and become the hero (or villain) they desire to be.”
https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/the-hispanic-pride-of-the-spider-verse/

Eva Longorias’s is Directing A Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Movie?

“Even better, once you actually dig beneath the thin, cheesy coating of an “origin story” for spicy corn puffs, you’ll find the inspiring tale of one Richard Montañez, the Frito-Lay janitor who cooked up Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in his home kitchen, revolutionizing the snack market and propelling Montañez to the C-suite and into the annals of corporate legend. It’s a terrific story, one that the Corpus Christi–bred Longoria has called “of great importance to [Mexican American] culture,” and seemingly tailor-made for a heartwarming, ulcer-inflaming biopic.”
https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/eva-longorias-flamin-hot-cheetos-movie/ 

The Casting of Fidel Castro in the New Film ‘Alina of Cuba’, is Shocking

Film critic Carlos Aguilar argued that the push for more representation of people of color in Hollywood makes it more difficult for the lack of representation and appropriation of Latino roles by non-Latino actors to go unnoticed. “Hollywood used to get away with all of this, pretty much without repercussions, but things are starting to change. This simply does no longer fly,” Aguilar said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/10/latino-representation-hollywood-james-franco/ 

That Jennifer Lopez Snub Is Only the Beginning of the 2020 Oscars’ Latino Problem

“Both snubs have become two of the most widely discussed disses inside a distressingly white list of nominees. (If Monday’s choices made anything clear, it’s that the 68% male, 84% white voting members of the Academy are not as progressive as they might like to believe.) But while the Lopez and Nyong’o snubs are symptoms of a broad diversity issue within the Oscars, they’re also part of a more specific problem: Latino exclusion and erasure. These performers deserved the kind of attention the Oscars rarely bestow on Latin American talent—but the amount of buzz both generated leading up to the nominations has made the oversight even more egregious. It’s already been a very weird awards season for Latino film fans, and at this rate it’s only bound to get weirder.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/01/2020-oscar-nominations-jennifer-lopez-latinos-snub/

Number Of Latinos In Hollywood Films Is Dismal. What Needs To Change?

“It is well known that Latinos, in front and behind the camera, are severely underrepresented in Hollywood films. That’s nothing new. But how bad is it?
Latino actors barely landed 4.5% of more than 47,000 speaking roles in the 100 top-grossing U.S. movies from each of the past 12 years and only 3% were leads or co-leads. The staggeringly low numbers are just as bad behind the camera, where Latino directors constituted 4% and producers just 3%. That’s according to a just released study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which analyzed 1,200 films from 2007 to 2018.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/veronicavillafane/2019/08/27/number-of-latinos-in-hollywood-films-is-dismal-what-needs-to-change/#58efe5c110c9/

Reminder: A Latina Has Never Won The Oscar For Best Actress

Even before I glanced at the list of performers with nods this year, I knew who I wouldn’t find among the names: a Latina actress. Why? Because a Latina has never won an Oscar for Best Actress ― not once in nearly 90 years of Oscar history!
And Latinxs have fared only slightly better in other categories. Rita Moreno, in 1962, and Mercedes Ruehl, in 1992, have been the only Latina actresses to take home an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category. The sole Latino to take home an Oscar for Best Actor was José Ferrer in 1950. While Anthony Quinn, in 1952 and 1946, and Benicio del Toro, in 2000, are the only Latino actors to win for a supporting role.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/reminder-a-latina-actress-has-never-won-the-best-actress-oscar_n_58877e40e4b096b4a234af0e/

Latino representation in film remains limited, despite history of inclusion

Despite little modern representation, there is a long history of Latino representation within the industry, though it has not always been positive. In order to better understand the lack of modern Latino representation, the past must be taken into account to see where the industry is heading. From the downfall of the Spanish-language theaters that once populated Los Angeles to the rise of more diverse content from streaming services, the way the Latino population has been seen on the screen has evolved throughout the years.
https://dailybruin.com/2019/06/08/latino-representation-in-film-remains-limited-despite-history-of-inclusion/

20 Latina Directors You Should Know

Hailing from all over the Americas and offering a wide range of genres and styles, these 20 directors have earned Oscar nominations, won accolades from the most esteemed film festivals from all over the world, worked with some of the best actors around, and told stories as diverse as you can imagine — from documentaries on the legacy of the armed conflict in El Salvador to bisexual teen rom-coms set in Chile, and everything in between. Consider this but a mere sampling of the strong pool of Latina filmmakers working today.
https://remezcla.com/lists/film/20-latina-directors-you-should-know/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/10-latino-films-see-2014-n276971
https://time.com/5662739/latino-hollywood-representation/

Alfonso Cuarón on the Painful and Poetic Backstory Behind ‘Roma’

While there were some discussions with the major movie studios when it came time to sell “Roma” for distribution, Cuarón says he was fully aware that a foreign-language film shot in black and white was unlikely to find a typical Hollywood home.
“This is not the kind of film that the studios generally release. And I’m happy with that,” he says. “After more than a decade in which cinema has gentrified into some sort of product, suddenly we’re seeing a greater diversity going on. Remember the ’90s, in which the big studio movie was coexisting in the multiplex with the foreign film and the film from Sundance? That’s the healthiest way of cinema.” https://variety.com/2018/film/news/roma-alfonso-cuaron-netflix-libo-rodriguez-1202988695/

Latinx Creators Sign Open Letter To #EndLatinXclusion In Hollywood: “We Are Tired”

“The letter points out that the Latinx community makes up 18.3% of the U.S. population but it is not reflected in film and TV. There are only 4.7% feature writers and 8.7% TV writers that are Latinx. As Latinx writers move up to Showrunner level, the stats only get more dismal. “By refusing to tell our stories AND by refusing to put us in charge of telling them — Hollywood power brokers are complicit in our exclusion,” the letter remarks.”
https://deadline.com/2020/10/latinx-representation-hollywood-untitled-latinx-project-tanya-saracho-lin-manuel-miranda-gloria-calderon-kellett-roberto-aguierre-sacasa-steven-canals-diversity-inclusion-representation-1234598129/

Hollywood is missing out on U.S. Latino, Latinx representation, in front and behind the camera

A report last year by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, titled “Latinos in Film: Erasure on Screen & Behind the Camera Across 1,200 Popular Movies,” noted that among the 4% of films with a Latin American or U.S. Latino director between 2007 and 2018, only one was helmed by a woman: Mexican-born Patricia Riggen. Since the study was released, two American-born Latinas have led major productions. Melina Matsoukas, who identifies as Afro-Latina, directed “Queen & Slim” at Universal, and Roxann Dawson directed the Christian drama “Breakthrough” for Fox.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/hollywood-missing-out-u-s-latino-latinx-representation-front-behind-n1236642/

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