THE POWER OF LATINO CULTURE
CHANGING THE NARRATIVE & PERCEPTION
At NVISION Latino, our mission is to spotlight the Power of Culture, champion diverse Latin talent, and provide a prominent platform for discovering and exhibiting innovative work in film, music, the arts, and technology. The American Latino population in the U.S. is 20%, yet we only represent 4% in front of and behind the camera. As consumers, Latinos represent a $1 trillion market, and our spending power helps keep a healthy American Economy. Our festival showcases the amazing talent of our American & Global community.
OUR DECADE LONG JOURNEY
Founded in 2015 by acclaimed Latino filmmaker and photographer Danny Hastings, our festival has been the pioneering platform dedicated to spotlighting the rich diversity and creativity of Latino and Latina filmmakers and artists in the United States. Hastings established the festival to address the glaring lack of representation of Latinos in Hollywood productions. Over the past decade, the Official Latino Film and Arts Festival has evolved into a vibrant community of U.S filmmakers and actors who uplift and empower one another. For our 10th annual edition, we are thrilled to announce a special partnership with NTERTAIN Led by creative entrepreneur Lex Borrero, iconic media mogul Tommy Mottola and Latin super producer Tainy. This partnership marks a significant milestone for our festival, bringing together expertise, passion, and power to further elevate the voices of Latino filmmakers and artists.
NTERTAIN
Founded by industry titans Lex Borrero, Tommy Mottola, and Tainy, NTERTAIN is a market-leading media company comprised of NEON16, NTERTAIN STUDIOS, and culture marketing agency AM16 which collectively create an ecosystem of disruptive creatives impacting perception, positioning, and the current narrative of Latin culture in media today.
DANNY HASTINGS
Hastings has shot and designed an unprecedented number of album coversfor some of the biggest names in the music industry, and worked alongside artists as diverse as Nas, Taylor Momsen, Marc Anthony, Wu Tang, Eminem, and Jay-Z to name a few. Ultizing his wide network and personal expertise of cinematography (studied at NYU), the young sage began directing music videos, commercial, short films and feature films soon after. In 2015, Hastings started the annual Official Latino Film Festival to provide opportunities to Latino filmmakers and actors in the U.S. due to the lack of representation of his community in film and TV. He was able to land partnerships with HBO, Verizon Media and DIAGEO for the festival.
WHO ARE WE?
BOARD MEMBERS
Lex
Borrero
Co-Founder/CEO of NEON16, Ntertain Studios, AM16 Agency
Billboard 40 Under 40.
Top Latin Power Player in 2023.
Collaborations with artists like J Balvin, Maroon 5, Bad Bunny, and Justin Bieber, resulting in over 500 million records sold worldwide and numerous Billboard Hot 100 hits.
Tommy
Mottola
Co-Founder of NTERTAIN
Former chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment.
Creator of The Latin Explosion signing and developing Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.
Credited on the discovery and guidance on careers from Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Will Smith and Aerosmith among others.
Danny
Hastings
Co-Founder of NVISION Festival
Co-Founder of NVISION festival (formerly: The Official Latino Film Festival).
Director of several album covers including Jay-Z, Wu-Tang, Marc Anthony.
Photography exhibitions at Museum of Modern Art, The Annenberg Space for Photography, The Kennedy Center, and Art Basel.
Miguel
Melendez
Founder – Westbrook
Selection Committee
Jairo
Alvarado
Literary Manager – CoFounder of Redefine Entertainment
The Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Rising Executives 35 and Under.
Member of Board of directors for the National Association of Independent Latino Producers (NALIP).
Named one of Hollywood’s 50 Forces for Change.
Leslie
Grace
Singer – Actress
Nominee at the Billboard Awards in the categories of “New Artist of the Year” and “Hot Latin Songs, Artist of the Year, Female”.
Played Nina Rosario in the 2021 film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights.
3x Latin GRAMMY award nominee.
Lynette
Coll
Producer – CoFounder & CoCEO of Luz Film
Executive Producer of David Lynch presents THE HAPPY WORKER; Producer of STEREOSCOPE, the series (Facebook Watch); Development Executive of ANTARCTICA.
One of the producers of Sundance 2024 U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winner IN THE SUMMERS.
Worked with global emerging artists like Eddie Alcazar on PERFECT, Zeek Earl and Christopher Caldwell on their Netflix film.
Santiago
Zapata
Head of Film & TV at Ntertain Studios
Directed 2 Seasons of the unscripted episodic series Los Montaner for Disney+.
Produced Netflix’s music competition La FIRMA and the Paramount+ mini-series Thalia’s Mixtape: The Soundtrack of your Life.
Awarded at the Sundance Film Festival, Havana Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Berlinale, Palm Spring International Film Festival, the Latin Grammys and the MTV European Awards among others.
