Abad
Abad Leyva. Nacido y criado en Tecuanapa, Guerrero. Mexico. La Costa Chica. An Afro-Mexicano, not a ‘latino’. Father of Deu and husband of Michelle. Filmmaker who is currently working on a documentary about Plan Merida and the war on drugs in Mexico. Public speaker. Founder of EncinalOakland.org. Encinal is a community production organization that fights stigma and discrimination through multimedia projects. Abad is also co-founder with Michelle of Kalli Comunidad. www.kallicomunidad.org. Kalli Comunidad is a healing space, decolonized cafe, and gallery for the brown and/or undocumented community of Oakland where people who are challenged to find resources find ways to heal traumas and obstacles. Kalli means ‘Home’ in Nahuatl and this center provides a space for people to create community and connections, to find better ways to adapt and thrive in their lives.
Ernesto
My name is Ernesto Quiñonez and I am a Xicano male. I’m in the early stages of growing and building a positive path for myself and my family. My goal is to transform my circumstances so I can focus my efforts on changing and bettering the circumstances of my people. At our family run store we use our T-Shirts to raise awareness and give back as much as we can. We contribute by vocalizing our opinions and stance through artwork. The Latino film festival is important because of its ability to give us a place to shine and perform.
www.movement-ink.com
Ignacio
Born and raised in San Francisco, Ignacio Ferrey is a father, educator and advocate committed to community involvement and eliminating health disparities as they impact communities of color, specifically among Latino, indigenous & African American families, men and youth. Ignacio has nearly 20 years of experience in education, health, youth & leadership development, as well as father and family services. This festival is very important to me because it celebrates diversity and inclusion, addresses social justice head on and tells our stories within and across the Américas through film and art. I’m proud to support this year’s SF Latino Film Festival!
Isa
Isa Noyola is director of programs at Transgender Law Center, where she works extensively for the release of transgender women from ICE detention and an end to deportations. Isa identifies as a translatina, activist, and cultural organizer and is passionate about abolishing oppressive systems that criminalize trans and queer immigrant communities of color. She was named by Colorlines as one of the 15 Remarkable Women of Color Who Rocked 2015. This festival is important to me and my community because our diverse Latinx culture is filled with stories and beauty that need to be shared and understood. We have a resilient and powerful story to share.
Kassandra
Kassandra Pintor is a 22 year old Mexican-Colombian-American who just graduated from USF with an undergrad in Psychology. Her next goal is to work in the community with youth that are at risk and live in low socio-economic environments. She also plans to continue her mural projects in the Mission District.
Lupita
Coatlupe “Lupita” Martinez is a 12yr old 7th grader growing up in East Oakland who loves purple and is obsessed with Michael Jackson. She enjoys writing poetry, eating arroz con leche and smothering her pet pug “Mimi”. Lupita is the inspiration and founding member of the Radical Monarchs, a radical social justice scouting troop for girls of color. The Radical Monarchs earn badges based on learning and participating in social justice movements. Lupita is also a proud “brujita” and enjoys learning about plants for medicinal healing and as a way to connect to her ancestral lineage.
Kristina
Kristina is an herbalist, a contributor to Bay Area community healing spaces and a promoter of the healing energies of sensuality, the divine feminine and Sacred Sexuality. She is an Afro-Indigenous Latina, African American & Salvadoreña. She creates art, writes about spiritual philosophy and makes herbal medicines. The festival is important to me because we have so many diverse, powerful beautiful stories to tell and its really inspiring to see into the depth of someone or a whole community through film. Keep in touch with her work! Instagram: luna_nueva_oshun
Maya
Maya is a mental health therapist in our community. She is a danzante, she is a beautiful mother, and she is very generous with her time and love with many.
Rene
My Name is René Quiñonez I am first generation Xican@ my parents immigrated from Mexico and Central America, I believe that striving for a better world is life, and not just something you work towards, its living and struggling everyday. I am also the family member of a family run business Movement Ink. For years our family has been faced with living in poverty and dealing with circumstances that come from living in over-populated, urban areas without outlets. At times we’ve fallen into negative behaviors and are dealing with trying to be productive and beneficial to our communities. We use silkscreening as an outlet and an opportunity for us to funnel our benefits back into elevating and empowering our people.
The Latino film festival is important for me because for most of my childhood absent were the faces and skin tones that resembled me, it’s important because we are important.
www.movement-ink.com
Rob My name is Robert Liu-Trujillo. I am the author and illustrator of “Furqan’s First Flat Top”. I was born in Oakland, California and raised all across the Bay Area. I’m a visual artist, father, and a husband who employs the use of illustration, public art, and storytelling to tell tales. These tales manifest in a variety of forms and they reflect my cultural background, dreams, and political / personal beliefs. My motivation to do what I do is to unearth beautiful and un-told stories, to be a positive and nurturing influence on my son, and to honor my ancestors and family who worked so hard for me to be here.
I’m also a co-founder of The Trust Your Struggle Collective, a contributor to Rad Dad, and the founder of Come Bien Books.
This festival is important to me because our indigenous peoples/raza need to see a very beautiful, subtle, nuanced, and layered reflection of themselves. Since we can’t get that from our popular media lanes, we have to create our own and drive traffic to it.Not only to watch the great films, but to support our own self determination. I’m happy to see the film fest continue on and I’m excited to see some of the great films.
Samuel
I am Samuelin Martinez, a Social Justice Healer offering a Traditional Healing Praxis to heal from an American Holocaust, that has caused Post Generational Traumatic Oppression. My mother was our Medicine Woman and Oral Historian, who rooted me to 40,000 years of innate-ive resiliency; to this I have integrated the best from 511 years of psychiatric and social work history. For thirty eight years I have progressively refined this approach, utilizing the best from both, I provided therapy to a population that went un-served prior to 1973.
This festival is important to me because con todo respeto, I don’t want to tell people how they should identify themselves, but we are descendents of survivors of the American holocaust. The whole Chicano-Mexicano movement was based on a movement. Who we are is so important because we never surrendered our native love for our people which is stronger than cultural genocide. We have to tell our children they are indigenous not Latin or Latin-o, Mexican not Latin, Colombian not Latin, Boricua not Latin, etc. This sharing of culture helps to remind us of who we are.
http://americanholocausthealing.com
Susana
Susana “Ix Chel” Cáceres is a queer embryonic immigrant, made in El Salvador and born and raised in Pico Union and South Central, Los Angeles, California. She speaks her truth trough poetry, drum, song, dance and film. Currently she is the Executive Director for El/La Para TransLatinas, a nonprofit organization for transgender Latinas in the Mission of San Francisco.
www.ellaparatranslatinas.yolasite.com
Diogo
My name is Diogo Hausen and I was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil. I grew up in Miami, FL, and am now working as an actor/model/stuntman here in San Francisco. I originally came out to California to study Psychology at Santa Clara University, which was the perfect stepping stone to lead me to acting.
My goals have been the same since the year 2000 when I first watched the film X-MEN in theaters: become a super hero. I have been a comic book and super hero fan from my earliest childhood memories. I have always loved the superhero archetype and how they inspire people by going through mythological trials and hardships. Watching X-MEN for the first time made me realize that if I couldn’t get superpowers myself, I could at least play someone who does have them on screen. Then I could help tell these stories to inspire people, and to bring them hope.
Currently, I’m working on some independent short and feature films that have been making their way through the festival circuits, as well as commercials and print ads.
Annie
Annie Vazquez is a fashion, travel and beauty expert and journalist who has been coined as one of the pioneers of Miami’s fashion blogging community.
Accolades: This young entrepreneur was voted Miami’s Top Fashion Blog by The New Times and recently was awarded Best Fashion Content Creator Award at the Hispanicize x Telemundo Awards. Her work has been featured in glossies such as Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, The New York Times, Life, Refinery 29and more. She was the first blogger in Miami to score a major campaign with fashion brand Coach where she produced and starred in a 1 minute commercial for them. Savvy and creative, Vazquez has gone on to work for several other brands as a spokesperson, model and consultant. Some of these top tier brands include Mercedes Benz USA, Bailey’s, Peroni, Tresmme, Victoria Secret Pink, 7 for All ManKind, Forever 21, H&M, Express, Macy’s, Express, Bloomingdales, TMobile and Sprint.
Innovator: Vazquez has produced several events to unify the city’s fashion community. These include setting up educational fashion panels at Soho House, putting together the city’s first “Fashion Blogger’s Night Out at Neiman Marcus and launching the first blogger based event at Miami Swim Week Lounge called “Escape Miami”. Additionally, she cofounded Miami’s first fashion blogger networking event called “Fashion Bloggers Do It Better 1& 2” and to give back to her community, “Fashion for a Cause Campaign to raise funds for breast cancer. Plus, Google asked her to create the first ever Miami Fashion Blogger Page which has over 300K followers.
On Camera: Always with her finger on the city’s pulse, Vazquez is often featured on several networks such as NBC, Fox, CBS producing fashion and lifestyle segments as well as online for Nylon Magazine. At Mercedes Benz Swim Week, she served as ambassador and interviewed celebrities, designers, and guests. Aside from modeling in commercials, Vazquez also believes in the power of film. She produced the first ever fashion blogging documentary called Blogging Behind the Seams” to showcase how the industry works.
Teacher: One thing Vazquez is passionate about is teaching others. She is often asked to lead fashion blogging and styling workshops at universities like Nova University as well as for major corporations like Crystal Line Cruises and Soho House.
Designer: “Lil Miss Miami” is her first jewelry line to pay homage to the city she grew up in. After a year of research, Vazquez decided to team up with a local jewelry maker and create her first ever capsule collection which has already been featured on the runway of Mercedes Benz Swim Week and was carried at over 9 boutiques in Miami and online.
Danielle
Danielle Margherite Photography is a published editorial and fashion photographer, specializing in natural light photography with a style consisting of colorful and energetic visuals. Based in Miami, FL with a serious case of wanderlust.
Ricky
I’m Ricky Sanchez and I’m of Spanish and Mexican descent. My roots are in Texas (before it was the United States). I’m the 10th grandchild of Don Tomas Sanchez and Joaquin Galan who founded Laredo, Texas and the United States. My family migrated to San Francisco and then to Merced, California where I was born and raised.
I am in the process of creating my first short horror film in Northern California. Northern California is where I began theatre in high school. Now, I am pursuing it in college while working as a firefighter. I have a drive and passion to create, direct, produce and edit my own film which I hope to do professionally. Creating my own film brings my imagination to life. It’s an art I truly love aside from fighting fires.
For tickets & passes: http://bit.ly/SFLFF8tix
