Posted by Larry Gleeson
TALENT FROM NARCOS MEXICO, QUEEN OF THE SOUTH, GENTEFIED, VIDA, MAYANS M.C., DEVIOUS MAIDS, ONE DAY AT A TIME AND MORE TO READ FILM SCRIPTS FROM PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS
LOS ANGELES, CA April 7, 2019 – Academy Award®-nominated actor Edward James Olmos announced today that the Latino Film Institute will live stream script reading sessions from their Youth Cinema Project (YCP) students. Talent from NARCOS MEXICO, QUEEN OF THE SOUTH, GENTEFIED, VIDA, MAYANS M.C., DEVIOUS MAIDS, ONE DAY AT A TIME, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, THE SINNER, LOS ESPOOKYS, SPANISH AQUI and more will be doing virtual live readings on Wednesdays and Fridays at 1pm PDT beginning April 8, 2020, on the Youth Cinema Project website, and can be found on social media with the hashtag: #YCPLiveReads.
YCP brings industry professionals to the most at-risk classrooms around California to collaborate with school districts to implement their curriculum in 4th – 12th-grade public schools. Each class meets twice a week for ninety-minute blocks throughout the school year. This is an in-class, push-in program and not an after school program. What makes YCP different from any other film education program in the nation is that they believe that the students will rise to the level of expectation so they guide their students through the entire filmmaking process starting with story development, continuing with production and postproduction, all that way until their end of year industry screenings.
The program is implemented in public schools across California from the Los Angeles, Montebello, Palmdale, Santa Ana, Pleasant Valley, Brawley, Pajaro Valley, North Monterrey, Alum Rock, Campbell, Jefferson and Williams school districts.
“As schools across Los Angeles and the country continue to close for the remainder of the school year, many students are relying on virtual classrooms and distance learning during these difficult times. We felt it was our responsibility to do something to support those efforts,” explains Olmos, founder of the Latino Film Institute and YCP. “We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to engage and excite the next generation by asking professional actors to join us in helping our students continue their education by reading the film scripts they have worked so hard on over the past year. The YCP students may not be able to finish filming their scripts this year, but they will get the chance to see them come to life.”
The scripts that will be part of the program include The Lottery Ticket read by JJ Soria, Carlos Santos, Laura Patalano, and Alex Patiño from GENTEFIED, Kayla’s Got It Under Control read by Mishel Prada, Chelsea Rendon, Roberta Colindrez, Luis Bordonada, Tonatiuh and Karen Sours from VIDA, Creech read by Raiza Licea, Carlos Santos, Tony Rodriguez, and Oscar Montoya from SPANISH AQUI PRESENTS, Illusion read by Hemky Madera, Idalia Valles, Alejandro Barrios, Alimi Ballard and Vera Cherny from QUEEN OF THE SOUTH, Pablo’s Old Job read by Emilio Rivera, Carla Baratta and Frankie Loyal from MAYANS M.C., Origin read by Judy Reyes, Ana Ortiz and Edy Ganem from DEVIOUS MAIDS, Fallen Angel read by Alejandro Edda, Fernanda Urrejuela, Teresa Ruiz, Mayra Hermosillo, Jesse Garcia and Alberto Zeni from NARCOS MEXICO, Rigged read by Danielle Vega, Alicia Sixtos, Vanessa Vazquez, Andrea Sixtos and Gilbert Saldivar from EAST LOS HIGH, The First Trip read by Efren Ramirez from NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, Eddie Martinez from THE SINNER, and Jearnest Corchado from LITTLE AMERICA, Tarde de Sombras read by Bernardo Verdugo from LOS ESPOOKYS, Elizabeth read by Fenessa Pineda from RAMBO LAST BLOOD, and Isabella Gomez from ONE DAY AT A TIME (script to be announced).
“We were overwhelmed by the response we got from the Hollywood Latinx community,” continues Rafael Agustín, YCP’s Executive Director, “to have this amazing group of talent read material crafted by students in our program will definitely create a huge impact in their learning, while at the same time showing the importance of having diverse voices in storytelling.”
The series begins with GENTEFIED on Wednesday, April 8th and VIDA on Friday, April 10th with more dates being announced every week through the end of April.
About Latino Film Institute – The Latino Film Institute (LFI) showcases, strengthens and celebrates the richness of Latino lives through the audiovisual event. We develop, activate, and support artists, creators, and executives through pathways and platforms for the expression and appreciation of their work.
About Youth Cinema Project – The Youth Cinema Project (YCP) is project-based learning that produces competent, resilient, and real-world problem-solvers and bridges the achievement and opportunity gaps by creating lifelong learners and the entertainment industry’s multicultural future.
(Source: Press release provided by Shari Mesulam, The Mesulam Group)
