July 27-Aug 2, 2009 marks the Tenth Anniversary of the HBO New York International Latino Film Festival, the premier Urban Latino film event in the country and will be screening the independent film RHYME ANIMAL Sunday, Aug 2 at SVA Theater Screen 1, 5:15PM. RHYME ANIMAL was created, co-written and co-produced by Jorge Rivera, Latino filmmaker and former member of the seminal Afro-Latin Rock band, “Bay of Pigs”. This short film has had a brief but successful run at eighteen film festivals in the circuit such as: Winner – Best Short Film – Spaghetti Junction Urban Film Festival April, 2008
Finalist – New York Television Festival (NYTVF) Independent Pilot Competition, 2008
Finalist – National Association of Television Program Executives’ NextTV Competition.
Official Selection – Cannes, Short Film Corner, Cannes France, May 2007
Official Selection – Brooklyn International Film Festival, Brooklyn, New York May 2007
Official Selection – Coney Island International Film Festival, Coney Island, New York, Sept 30th, 2007
Official Selection – Rhythm of the Line Hip Hop Film Festival, Berlin Germany, Oct 13th, 2007
Rivera credits his rich storytelling abilities to the oral tradition exposed to him by his parents (transplants from the small towns of Cayey and Pasto Viejo, Puerto Rico) and makes use of that skill to formulate unique visions of the worlds he portrays in his films. He is a graduate of Berkee College of Music in Boston and the New York Film Academy. During the late 1990’s he became popular as a music producer in the New York Underground Hip-Hop scene, before turning his attention to film full-time.