Los Angeles September 26, 2016—ShortsHD™, the world’s only Short Movie Channel (www.shorts.tv), has just announced the winners of the Hispanic Heritage Short Film Award Competition. The competition, in partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), received over 900 film submissions. The overall grand prize winners are Marcelo Mitnik and Santiago Paladines. The announcement was made live at the Hispanic Heritage Awards Gala in Washington D.C.
The two winners of the Hispanic Heritage Short Film Award Competition each take home a $7500 cash prize and were offered distribution deals with ShortsHD™. The Hispanic Heritage Awards Gala will premiere on PBS on September 30, 2016.
Below is a breakdown of the two overall winners:
Marcelo Mitnik, Writer/Director –“In The Clouds”
Showing the difference between how we think romance should work and how it actually does is at the comedic heart of In the Clouds, an exploration of cultural disagreements about intimacy, love, and marriage proposals in the age of YouTube.
Writer/Director Marcelo moved from Argentina to the U.S. to study at UCLA’s Film School, where he received his Master’s in screenwriting. His work as a director, writer, and producer has appeared at over 150 film festivals worldwide and has won or been nominated for many festival and industry awards, including the Oscar-nominated documentary Chau, Beyond the Lines (co-writer and executive producer).
Santiago Paladines, Writer/Director – “The Fare”
The Fare, tells the story of Javier, a young Ecuadorian kid that works his way up a gang of human traffickers in the US. He has to confront his past the day he meets Cristina, a young girl that comes from his same town. He will have to decide between being loyal to the man that gave him everything or save Cristina’s life, probably at the cost of his own.
Writer/Director Santiago was born in Loja, Ecuador. He is the first Ecuadorian to graduate from the American Film Institute directing program. As a filmmaker, he has dedicated his life to tell stories that search for humanity, connect with his roots and portray characters with a deep and strong need to find meaning in the world around them
Beginning on June 22, 2016 and concluding on August 26, 2016 – ShortsHD™, creator of “Voices,” an initiative aimed at improving access to diverse voices and viewpoints in TV and film partnered with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation to launch this initiative. The competition was officially announced on Saturday, June 25th during the 2016 NALIP Media Summit as well as through ShortsHD’s social media and film festival networking with submissions. A great majority of the submissions came from Latin America, Mexico and the U.S. To be eligible, the short films must have been narrative live action projects where the writer, director or producer is Hispanic.
About ShortsHD
ShortsHD™ is the first high definition channel dedicated to short movies and is available on DIRECTV (Channel 573), and AT&T U-Verse (Channel 1789), US Sonet (Channel 292), CenturyLink prism (1789) and Frontier Communications (Channel 1789). ShortsHD™ is operated by Shorts International, the world’s leading short movie entertainment company with the world’s largest movie catalogue dedicated to short movies. Shorts International also operates ShortsTV®, which is available across Europe and Africa. Shorts™ is the short movie on-demand service available on iTunes movie stores in 54 countries across the globe and Amazon Instant Video. The company is headquartered in London, England with an additional office in Los Angeles and is led by Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive.
About the Hispanic Heritage Foundation
The Hispanic Heritage Foundation inspires, prepares and connects Latino leaders in the in the classroom, community and workforce. HHF also promotes cultural pride, accomplishment, and the great promise of the community through public awareness campaigns seen by millions. HHF’s award-winning program’s has been recognized by The White House, U.S. Congress, Fortune 500 Companies and the Government of Mexico. HHF is headquartered in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles with offices in Silicon Valley, Miami, New York and Mexico City. (Visit www.HispanicHeritage.org.)