According to Nielsen’s 2025 Diverse Intelligence Series report, U.S. Hispanics represent more than $4.1 trillion in purchasing power, while streaming accounts for 55.8% of their total television viewing time, compared with 46% for the overall U.S. population.

The vertical-drama boom is not simply another media trend for Manny Ruiz (Minivela/Co-Founder/Brilla Media); it is the latest chapter in a career that has revolved around storytelling and the Latino audience.

“I’ve been a storyteller in one shape, or form since the late ‘80s,” Ruiz told me in a recent interview. His career began as a journalist and crime reporter for The Miami Herald, followed by years in Hispanic public relations and media. He later founded Hispanic PR Wire and went on to build Hispanicize, a platform that became an important part of the U.S. Latino influencer and social-media industry. Today, he sees Minivela as the next evolution of that work.

Ruiz describes Minivela as the first bilingual vertical-shorts platform built specifically for the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets. The company was launched in 2025 by Brilla Media, the Latino media company Ruiz co-founded with his wife, Angela Sustaita-Ruiz, in partnership with actor and producer Carlos Ponce and adtech company Numatec.

The choice of partners is telling. Ponce brings decades of experience in television, film and, particularly, the world of Latin entertainment, while Ruiz brings a career spent building connections between Latino audiences, media and brands. Together, they are approaching the vertical format not simply as a new way to watch content, but as an opportunity to create a new space for Latino stories and creators. “Our approach is different,” Ruiz told me. “We are really [about] community and for the Hispanic market and even broadly Latin America.”

His goal, he explained, is to go “upward”: to retain the structures of the stories people want to watch without following what he sees as the industry’s increasing move toward more adult-oriented material.

For Ruiz, that also means creating an industry in which Latino writers, directors, producers, and actors have more opportunities to participate. When Minivela launched, the company described its mission as opening additional production opportunities for Latino creative talent, from directors and writers to actors and influencers.

That mission is already beginning to extend beyond Minivela’s own productions. In 2026, Great American Media’s Pure Flix partnered with Minivela on a multi-project agreement to develop and distribute a slate of microdramas for U.S. Hispanic and Latin American audiences, including original stories and adaptations from Pure Flix’s existing library. The projects are being developed for vertical viewing and for bilingual, Spanish-language and culturally specific audiences.

“Great American Pure Flix is the leading faith-and-family streaming service, and Pure Flix Familia will build on that foundation with programming and experiences created specifically for Latino families,” said Bill Abbott, President and CEO of Great American Media.

During Hispanic Heritage Month this past October 2026, Great American Media announced the expansion of their investment into Latino entertainment by launching Pure Flix Famila, a new streaming destination created for families seeking culturally relevant entertainment rooted in faith, family and shared values. 

Pure Flix Familia launched with the distribution of an original microdrama Alquilé Un Novio Para Navidad and a national call for Latino-produced family and faith films. The plan is to start with Spanish-language entertainment with the goal of expanding to include English-language, and bilingual storytelling created and curated for Latino audiences.

However, perhaps the clearest example of what Minivela is doing in the Latino vertical-drama content creation space is Rico’s Tacos.

Rico’s Tacos: From Telenovela to the Supermarket Aisle

Rico’s Tacos is a 22-episode vertical microdrama set in a Southern California neighborhood near Venice Beach. Produced by Minivela, the story follows a widowed father, his teenage daughter, and their abuela as they build a family taco business while navigating identity, resilience and family legacy. Each episode is less than three minutes, making the series deliberately suited for mobile viewing (Digiday, 2026).

Rico’s Tacos is also an experiment in something much bigger: What happens when a brand stops simply advertising around entertainment and starts helping create the entertainment itself. The project was developed through a collaboration between Procter & Gamble and Albertsons Media Collective, with shopper and cultural insights from Albertsons and P&G informing the story from the beginning. Rather than adding an advertisement to a finished production, the partners used information about how consumers shop to help shape the narrative (Albertsons Media Collective, 2026).

In one episode, for example, the family’s abuela goes to Albertsons to buy avocados and realizes that she also needs Head & Shoulders shampoo. It is a small moment, but it illustrates the premise—an ordinary shopping trip becomes part of the story rather than an interruption to it (The Wall Street Journal, 2026).

The series is distributed across Albertsons’ YouTube, social and in-store platforms, with short teasers and QR codes directing shoppers to the full episodes. The retailer has also been using its stores as part of the production and distribution environment (Albertsons Media Collective, 2026).

Albertsons executives have even referred internally to the concept as “soap opera 2.0”—a contemporary version of serialized entertainment that can live on social media, mobile devices and, in this case, inside the supermarket itself (Digiday, 2026).

For Minivela, however, Rico’s Tacos represents more than an innovative advertising experiment. It is a demonstration of what Latino storytelling can look like when the audience is considered from the beginning; not as a niche to be targeted later, but as the community for whom the story is being created.

When I spoke with Ruiz in Los Angeles this past summer, during the run of the Chicano Hollywood Film Festival, he was already looking beyond Rico’s Tacos. He was in L.A. not only to celebrate the project but also to continue building Minivela’s relationship with Pure Flix Familia and to meet with filmmakers and other creators. And perhaps that is the most promising part of this new format. Vertical drama is still young enough that its future has not been decided. The technology may have created the format, and the algorithms may have accelerated it, but there is still room for creators to decide what stories belong inside that little rectangle we carry everywhere.

For Latino storytellers, that could mean something bigger than simply finding a new place to watch a telenovela. It could mean helping shape what the next generation of television and marketing looks like and making sure our stories are there from the beginning.

A Billion-Dollar Industry

While artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to create some of this content, much of the vertical-drama industry still relies on real actors, writers, directors, and production teams. The content is hosted on independent streaming platforms and apps that are growing at an astonishing pace. 

There are now hundreds of dedicated short and vertical-drama apps worldwide, with platforms such as ReelShort, DramaBox, and GoodShort among the most recognizable names in the international market.

Sensor Tower estimates that short-drama apps generated approximately $700 million in global in-app revenue in the first quarter of 2025 alone, nearly four times the revenue generated in the same quarter a year earlier. The apps also surpassed 370 million downloads globally during those three months. By March 2025, cumulative global in-app revenue had reached approximately $2.3 billion (Sensor Tower, 2025). And the audience is no longer small enough to dismiss as a social-media curiosity.

According to Omdia, approximately 66 million people in the United States were monthly microdrama viewers in 2025, up dramatically from 26 million the previous year (Reuters, 2026). The numbers suggest that vertical drama is becoming less of a social-media phenomenon and more of a new form of television.

And this may only be the beginning.

The post Manny Ruiz: At The Helm of the Minivela Evolution first appeared on .

The Oscar-nominated Spanish actor takes on one of history’s most controversial figures in a new film directed by Paul Mignot, with a screenplay by Oscar nominee Nicholas Kazan. Production is underway in Paris.

Antonio Banderas is stepping into one of history’s most complex and controversial roles of the journey of a man that changed the course of the existing lands.

The Spanish-born, Academy Award-nominated actor will portray Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in Cortés, an ambitious historical epic to be produced by Utopai Studios and Ex Machina Studios. French filmmaker Paul Mignot will direct the feature from a screenplay by Oscar-nominated writer Nicholas Kazan, with producer Marco Weber overseeing the production.

Announced today in Paris, the film brings together an internationally acclaimed creative team to revisit a defining and deeply consequential chapter in the history of Mexico and the Americas.

The project has been more than 35 years in the making, with Kazan’s screenplay offering a deeply human exploration of one of history’s most consequential encounters. Now, with Banderas at its center, the long-anticipated epic is moving forward through a production model that combines traditional filmmaking with next-generation production technologies.

A Conquistador, an Indigenous Woman and a Turning Point in History

Set in 1519, Cortés follows a restless Spanish soldier whose hunger for glory drives him to seize command of an expedition to the Yucatán and sail without authorization from Cuba.

After reaching the coast of what is now Mexico, Cortés encounters Marina (patterned after the real life indigenous woman Malinche Cortes actually encountered), an enslaved Indigenous woman whose extraordinary linguistic abilities make her indispensable to his campaign. As he builds alliances and uses faith and fear to advance his conquest, Marina witnesses his transformation from an ambitious outlaw into a man who sees himself as a messianic figure.

The story places Marina at the center of a historical collision shaped by power, ambition, cultural conflict and conquest—an encounter whose consequences continue to resonate throughout Mexican and Latin American history.

For audiences, the film offers an opportunity to revisit this pivotal period through a character-driven narrative that explores not only the man who led the expedition, but also the Indigenous woman whose linguistic skills and position made her a crucial figure in his advance.

Antonio Banderas Brings a Powerful Screen Legacy to the Role

Banderas has built an international career portraying characters defined by intensity, complexity and charisma. His casting as Cortés reunites his commanding screen presence with a historical figure whose legacy remains the subject of debate.

The actor earned an Academy Award nomination and won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his acclaimed performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory. His extensive filmography includes The Mask of Zorro, Desperado, Evita, Philadelphia, The Skin I Live In and the beloved Puss in Boots franchise.

He also earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations for portraying artist Pablo Picasso in Genius: Picasso and Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.

His experience portraying historical figures, combined with his ability to bring humanity to larger-than-life characters, makes this latest role a significant addition to his career.

Banderas will perform the role under Mignot’s direction, with production already underway in Paris and additional filming scheduled in Spain.

An Ambitious Vision for a Historical Epic

“Cortés is exactly why we built Utopai Studios,” said Cecilia Shen, co-founder and CEO of Utopai Studios. She described the project as an opportunity to bring together Kazan’s screenplay, Mignot’s cinematic vision and Banderas’ ability to bring humanity to the film’s central character.

Marco Weber, producer of Cortés and CEO and co-founder of Ex Machina Studios, emphasized the importance of believable, complex characters in historical storytelling.

Weber said Banderas brings a commanding yet deeply human dimension to Cortés, while Mignot’s vision will help translate Kazan’s screenplay into a film that seeks to bring the breathtaking world-building with an intimate human story.

The partnership also reflects the studios’ commitment to combining filmmaker-led creative work with evolving production technologies.

Mignot’s directing credits include the historical feature Vaincre ou Mourir and the award-winning short All Blood Runs Red. His experience also extends to international campaigns for major brands, including BMW, Porsche, Audi, Lexus, Jeep, L’Oréal, Louis Vuitton and Emporio Armani.

Kazan brings a distinguished screenwriting résumé to the project. He received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his adapted screenplay for Reversal of Fortune. His other writing credits include Frances, Patty Hearst, Matilda, Fallen and Bicentennial Man.

Together, the director, screenwriter and lead actor will tackle a historical narrative that demands both cinematic scale and a nuanced examination of human ambition and its consequences.

Global Distribution Plans Announced

Utopai Studios and Ex Machina Studios will co-produce and co-finance the film, with each company taking responsibility for sales and distribution in designated international territories.

Utopai Studios will oversee sales and distribution in the United States, Canada, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Ex Machina Studios will handle most of Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

For Latin American audiences in particular, the film’s subject matter carries significant historical and cultural weight, making its eventual release and interpretation a point of interest for the region.

Additional casting announcements and production details are expected at a later date.

As Cortés moves from a screenplay decades in the making to a major international production, one of Spain’s most recognizable actors is preparing to embody a figure whose actions helped reshape the history of Mexico—and whose legacy remains anything but simple.

Latin Heat will continue to follow developments on Cortés as production progresses.

The post BREAKING NEWS: Antonio Banderas To Star as Hernàn Cortés In Historical Epic Drama first appeared on .

Pure Flix Familia Launches the Partnership

In a strategic move that underscores the accelerating demand for short-form storytelling, Great American Media has partnered with Minivela to develop, distribute and monetize a slate of premium micro-dramas aimed at U.S. Latinos and Latin American audiences.

The alliance—announced April 8 in New York during ANA GrowthFronts—will anchor the launch of Pure Flix Familia, a new Spanish-language and bilingual destination focused on faith- and family-driven content, set to debut later this year.

The partnership is notable within the evolving vertical video ecosystem: it represents one of the first Latino-centric ventures creating culturally specific content in English and bilingual formats, positioning both companies at the intersection of mobile-first consumption and underserved Hispanic audiences.

Minivela is the first bilingual vertical shorts platform serving the U.S. Latinos and Latin American markets, Brilla Media co-founder and former Hispanicize CEO Manny Ruiz is its Chief Executive Officer.

A Mobile-First Bet on Cultural Relevance

The collaboration combines Pure Flix’s established base in values-driven entertainment with Minivela’s creator-led, mobile-first production model. The result is a pipeline of vertical-format micro-dramas tailored for audiences increasingly consuming content on smartphones.

As part of a multi-project agreement, Minivela will produce original IP as well as adaptations from Pure Flix’s existing library—reimagined specifically for short-form vertical viewing. Content will be produced across key production hubs including Miami, Los Angeles, New York and locations throughout Latin America.

“We’re excited to build Pure Flix Familia with a highly creative partner that shares our commitment to meaningful storytelling for Latino audiences,” said Bill Abbott, President and CEO of Great American Media, about the strategic alignment.

Data-Driven Development Meets Creator Economy

A key component of the partnership is the use of Pure Flix’s proprietary audience data to inform development decisions—an increasingly critical advantage in the fragmented streaming landscape. The companies will also collaborate on distribution opportunities and content acquisition strategies aimed at scaling reach among Latino viewers.

Beyond content, the alliance opens the door to integrated brand partnerships, giving advertisers new ways to engage audiences through culturally resonant storytelling rather than traditional ad formats.

Expanding Latino Creative Opportunities

For Minivela, the deal represents both scale and mission alignment as Co-founder Carlos Ponce highlighted the creative upside: “This creates opportunities for Latino writers, directors and creators to bring their voices into purpose-driven storytelling.” Ponce is also set to star in upcoming projects under the Pure Flix Familia banner.

“We’re focused on delivering stories that truly entertain, inspire and connect,” said Co-founder Manny Ruiz, added that the partnership stands apart in a crowded micro-drama space often driven by volume.

The micro-drama format—short, serialized content optimized for mobile viewing—has seen rapid growth globally, but remains relatively underdeveloped for U.S. Larino audiences, particularly in the faith and family segment.

With this move, Great American Media continues to build a multiplatform ecosystem targeting audiences seeking values-based entertainment, while Minivela strengthens its position as a leading creative and production partner in the vertical content space.

The launch of Pure Flix Familia later this year will test the viability of this hybrid model—combining bilingual storytelling, culturally specific narratives and mobile-first distribution—at a time when Latino audiences remain both one of the fastest-growing and most underserved segments in streaming.

The post Minivela and Great American Media Teams Partner to Launch Micro-Dramas Aimed at U.S. Latinos first appeared on .

By David Damian Figueroa, Writer/Producer/Director

The Border Patrol truck snuck up behind us, flashing its red lights. We stopped on the dirt road, wondering why we were being pulled over. 

It was around 10 a.m. on August 14, 2024, and we were a few miles from the border wall. Our documentary film crew woke early to capture the sunrise at the border wall and spent the morning filming. For the past year, we have been taking trips to document the humanitarian work of Green Valley-Sahuarita and Tucson Samaritans on the Arizona border.  

Our SUV belonged to the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans and was marked with the organization’s logo—a white cross on a red background. Pastor Randy Mayer, co-founder of the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans—had been driving and escorting our three-person film crew, which consisted of myself–one of the film directors—bestselling author Reyna Grande, who is one of our executive producers, and another crew member, who wishes to remain unnamed. 

On our way back from the border wall, we passed a Border Patrol (BP) truck along Tres Bellotas Ranch Road. We waved to the officer from our easily identifiable SUV. He did not wave back. A customary, cordial, and unspoken practice between the humanitarian aid volunteers and the BP is to wave, stop, and report any sightings of stranded migrants at the end of the wall, then continue. Volunteers’ mission is to save lives, and the BP is there to apprehend migrants, although they save lives, too. 

Soon after the BP officer stopped us, a loud helicopter circled above us. The officer approached our SUV. “Are you all United States citizens?” he asked.

We all answered affirmatively. The officer asked Pastor Randy to exit the car and grab the keys. The pastor immediately told him that his passengers were documentarians. 

“Why are you stopping us?” I demanded.

“Vehicle inspection,” he said.

The officer ordered Pastor Randy, a white man, to open the back hatch of the SUV, and once he inspected our belongings, he slammed it shut. We could no longer hear them, and my apprehension grew.  

After more than a year of filming in the Sonoran Desert, our documentary was nearing the end of production. 

This past year has been one of the most historic times at the southern border. Thousands of migrants from all over the world were seeking asylum in the U.S. Our cameras captured the mass migration and interviewed asylum seekers from Sudan, Guinea, Morocco, India, Turkey, Russia, China, Mexico, Venezuela, and other countries throughout Central and South America. We filmed mainly on the Arizona side of the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The overwhelming majority of the volunteers at this stretch of the border, the Tucson sector, which is considered the deadliest land crossing in the world, are older White Americans. The Samaritans range in age between 60 and 85 years old. Working in crews, these “badass” older White volunteers, both men and women, pack up their four-wheel-drive SUVs with food, water, and supplies and make the one-and-a-half-hour drive through the middle of the Sonoran Desert. No heat, rain, hail, or snow keeps them from showing up and helping migrants in need.

At the end of the long day, each volunteer is responsible for restocking and refilling the gas tank, powering portable chargers to hand out to migrants with dead cell phones, and washing the dusty vehicles. Once home, they must write a report of the day’s life-saving efforts so that, by Monday, they can present their findings, challenges, and encounters with the BP to the volunteer corps during the in-person meeting.

When the BP agent finished interrogating Pastor Randy, he came for me. He ordered me to get out of the car. “Do you have an ID with you? I have to establish citizenship on everyone here, okay?” he said.

He then took me behind our vehicle, where Pastor Randy sat under the hot sun on the car’s bumper. The officer asked me if we had crossed the border illegally. He mentioned that surveillance cameras were everywhere, and they saw two migrants with two white bags cross the border and get into our vehicle. 

I explained that we had crossed the vehicle barriers at the end of the wall that morning–Reyna wanted to pick up trash litter in the area, and I wanted to film the sunrise from the other side of the wall–but we were still in the United States. In 1855, the U.S. government installed 276 obelisks to mark the U.S. boundary. The current border wall stands about twenty to thirty feet beyond the boundary on US soil. So, technically, we never left the United States.

A situation like ours would usually only take a few minutes to resolve by showing our US passport, but this BP officer had something else on his mind. He escorted me to the BP truck and ordered me to spread my legs and place my hands against the vehicle. He patted me down and touched my groin. Opening the door, he informed me that I was not under arrest, but he needed to call in a background check. He ordered me to enter the truck, which was caged and not ventilated, and then he shut the door, which automatically locked. 

In 2014, I served as executive producer of the documentary Food Chains.  The Samaritans invited me to screen the feature film at their annual conference called “Common Ground on the Border,” where I first heard of The Samaritans. I was intrigued. The unspoken truth is that this volunteer work has an element of danger. At the border wall, the vigilantes, militia, BP, the security for the wall construction crews, and the cartel carry pistols and machine guns. The volunteers are always unarmed, preferring to use their hands to carry gallons of water and food. These elders could be doing less dangerous volunteer assignments-like being a docent at the museum, reading to children at the local library, or helping give directions at an information booth at the local hospital or the airport. Why would these older White Americans, instead of enjoying their retirement doing leisurely–and safe–activities, be willing to devote their time, money, and energy to helping migrants at the wall and putting themselves in harm’s way?

I was determined to make a film about these courageous and compassionate people. The Samaritans inspired our entire production team and were up for the challenge of telling an alternative story of the border.  

However, as a Latino filmmaker, I quickly noticed Latino volunteers’ absence among The Samaritans. “Where are the Latinos?” I would ask. I got a range of responses from the Latinos I asked–They were too busy working and raising families, or that the work was too dangerous, and they were afraid of getting hurt. When I pointed out that the Samaritan volunteers were facing those dangers, the pushback I would get is that because they were white, they had nothing to worry about. “They are privileged. Nobody is going to do anything to them,” was the response from one of the Latinos I interviewed. 

I admit I was perplexed. Don’t we, as Latinos, have a responsibility to offer aid to our stranded Latino brothers and sisters in the desert? 

Though I knew I would get some criticism for making a film about White people, not recognizing the work white humanitarians do at the border wall would be a disservice to our allies. I thought they would serve as role models for other white Americans, and hopefully, this film might encourage them to get more involved in helping migrants in need and shift their fear or bias. The volunteer work is not motivated by a White savior mentality, as some may think. Though our film might be centering on their perspective, we hope to capture and convey that the work these white volunteers do is nothing less than an act of radical love for humanity.

Equally important is for Latinos to witness this as well. If we executed our film correctly, we could send a powerful message to Latinos about working side by side in offering life-saving aid with our allies to stand up to injustice and do something about the human rights violations happening at the border. I thought it could encourage them to overcome their fears and reservations about volunteering.

The inside of the caged area of the Border Patrol truck was suffocatingly hot. To put our situation in perspective, leaving a child alone in a locked hot car for just fifteen minutes can be deadly. It is incomprehensible that any person with half a brain would think it was okay to force a person or persons into a hot vehicle and lock the windows and doors in the dead of summer. It made me think of all the migrants, alone and afraid and not speaking English, who have gone through this situation.

Through the grates on the window, I watched the BP officer return to The Samaritans’ SUV and order our film’s executive producer, Reyna Grande, out of the vehicle. After asking her repeatedly if she was in the country legally–all while holding her US passport in his hands–the officer escorted her to the vehicle and put her in the back with me. Oddly, once in the truck, the officer ordered her to frisk herself while he watched. 

The migrants call the caged part of a BP vehicle “La Perrera” (The Kennel). Once both Reyna and I were in the kennel, under suspicion of crossing the border illegally or transporting migrants, it became apparent that in the eyes of the BP agent, the only crime Reyna and I had committed was being of Mexican descent.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under which the BP operates, has a troubling history of racial profiling. Despite laws against it, a 2014 exception from the Obama Administration allows the BP to continue this practice within 100 miles of the border. This egregious practice has created a climate of fear and mistrust among Latino communities, with a Pew Research Center study finding that U.S. born Latinos are significantly more likely than other groups to fear deportation. According to the ACLU, “CBP’s militarization of the border region has produced rampant abuses ranging from racial profiling to excessive force,” with Latinos more likely to be stopped and searched at the border.   

It brings to mind the rarely told stories of the nearly two million deportations, inspired by the anti-immigrant rhetoric and a shaky economy, of our American ancestors of Mexican descent from the 1930s and 1940s. This historical trauma continues to haunt Latino communities today.

The BP’s actions towards us were a stark reminder of this systemic bias. The officer’s insistence on repeatedly questioning our citizenship, being suspicious of us, and detaining us while he verified that we hadn’t crossed the border illegally or were transporting migrants, even while holding our U.S. passports in his hands, was a clear violation of our rights.

Now I understand why Latinos do not sign up as humanitarian volunteers in this section of the border wall. Latinos’ fear of being harassed or deported by the BP is a real fear.  

“Okay, you can go now,” the officer said, opening the door to the vehicle and letting Reyna and me out of the hot truck. He returned our passports and escorted us to the Samaritan’s SUV. 

As the helicopter stopped circling and flew away, I wondered what would have happened if we had not agreed to a vehicle inspection, even under probable cause, even though we had the right to remain silent and not answer questions without a lawyer. In that case, the consequences might not have ended well for us people of color. 

As our production team continues to document the humanitarian work of The Samaritans, we are more determined than ever to shed light on the human rights violations happening at the border and the toll of unjust policies. 

January 3, 2025, is the next session of the new Congress before the newly-elected President takes office on January 21st. No doubt, there will be rumblings of what to do about the border. Latino leaders and members of the Congressional Hispanic Congress must demand humane practices within the CBP and include them in a new immigration reform bill. We must also require that our newly-elected President undo the exemption that exists today that allows racial profiling by the BP and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). It’s time to deal with the border like mature adults and make the necessary changes to an antiquated immigration system that refuses to acknowledge the contributions that Latinos have made and continue to make to the United States. 

Our stories and history are valuable; we must continue advocating and fighting to tell them.

The post Filming While Brown: Racial Profiling of Latino Filmmakers at the Southern Border first appeared on .

The Short Film That Resonated at The Mexican American Film & Television Festival

By Bel Hernandez Castillo

Film festivals are an amazing place to discover films and filmmakers who you instinctively know you want to see more of. Recently at the Mexican American Film & Television Festival, there were several short films that fit the description. One that caught our attention, and an audience favorite, was The First Cowboy, written, executive produced, and co-directed by Dr. Jose-Luis Ruiz and produced by Johnny Murillo.

The First Cowboy recounts the powerful and engaging story of how Mexicans, the original inhabitants of the Southwest, and Americans co-existed before the human cost of the ultimate US conquest of Texas. The story is told through the eyes of two families, the gentile Southerner Palmers, and the educated, progressive land owners, la familia Velascos.

The film is both a love story and an epic human story that depicts the initial mistrust between the Protestant Palmers and the Catholic Velascos. The friendship begins with the slow and reluctant interaction which blossoms into affection and pacts made between them, and then the eventual betrayal, followed by dehumanizing domination.

In 2018 Dr. Ruiz formed a non-profit organization, the Mexican American Cultural Education Foundation (MACEF) with the goal to spotlight the endless contributions the Mexican-American people (Chicano, Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, or 1st generation immigrant) and their rich culture have given to America. To that end, in 2022 MACEF launched the first ever Mexican American Film & TV Festival. This year the film festival grew exponentially with over 100 projects submitted this year, and where trailblazers like pioneering writer/director Luis Valdez (La Bamba, Zoot Zuit, The Cisco Kid) are honored with the Illustrious Award for their contributions to the world of cinema.

But why a festival dedicated to Mexican American we asked Dr. Ruiz. Simply put, he reminds us that Mexicans-Americans are the largest percentage of the U.S.Latino population. There are 63 million Latinos in the U.S. Mexicans who can trace their ancestors to Mexico, make up 21% of the U.S. population, a group that contribute the largest portion of the $1.7 trillion annual GDP Latinos are noted for to the U.S. economy, yet Mexicans are the most vilified and not given the credit they deserve, according to Dr. Ruiz.

The mission of MACEF is “To change the narrative by educating the community about the endless positive contributions the Mexican-American people, (Chicano, Chicanx, Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, or 1^st generation immigrant), and their rich culture have given to America, which is often unrecognized. This is to be achieved by promoting unity, education, pride, and progress.”

The First Cowboy is based on a novel by the same name written by Dr. Ruiz. It delves into the tradition of the American cowboy, the subject matter of countless Hollywood movies. But those movies have never dealt with the true origin of the Mexican “vaquero” whose traditions were adapted to create the iconic American “Cowboy”, which was truly a Mexican tradition. 

Dr. Ruiz has long been studying the history of the Mexican Vaquero and now has produced and co-directed the film that tells the story, The First Cowboy. We sat down with Dr. Ruiz to delve into the story, his book the film is based on and the reason this story is important.

LATIN HEAT: Dr. Ruiz, congratulations on your film The First Cowboy, and the great response you had at the festival. I love the subject matter, and I had heard that the American cowboy learned from the Mexican Vaqueros but did not know all of the story. Why did you feel the need to write about it and then take the next step and make a short film?

DR. RUIZ: This is a crucial part of the history of Mexicans in American history that the history books have never told correctly. Before writing my fiction novel The First Cowboy, The Collision of Two Great Cultures, I did extensive research and hired a historian to dig out information about the lives of the people who lived at this time. This film is an adaptation of the novel.

LATIN HEAT: One thing we enjoyed and the audience seemed to enjoy as well as the references to the Mexican vaqueros teaching Americans the Mexican vaquero culture, why do you think this is so well received by the audience?

DR. RUIZ: If you read the news and see Hollywood films, you would have to assume Mexicans are newcomers to America, and who barely contribute to this country. Few Americans understand that Mexicans have been part of America for almost 200 years and have contributed in endless ways to make America what it is today, but have never been credited for it. What is more American than the cowboy?  Well, the fact is that the vaqueros are the original American Cowboys, almost a carbon copy of the Mexican vaquero and that is a thing of great pride for Mexicans and Latinos, and to see it on the screen makes all of us very proud.

LATIN HEAT: We know that while you are an award-winning novelist, this is in fact your first film. What made you confident that you could make such an impactful short?

DR. RUIZ:  I feel very fortunate to have found such a great producer in Johnny Murillo within his production company Chicano Hollywood. He and his production team are very talented and who worked tirelessly to make my story come true on the screen. I am a creative, and I have a vision and I guarded this vision throughout the casting, production, and post-production, to closely adhere to the novel. I feel so proud of the truly remarkable actors who turned in stellar performances like Fernanda Kelly, Mauricio Mendoza, Ryon Thomas, Bree Segars, and Glen Baggerly.

LATIN HEAT: The audience loved the film and expressed their desire to see the whole story in a feature film. What are your plans in that regard?

DR. RUIZ: I am excited to tell you that I am also working on the full feature, and I am currently shopping the film for major studios and using the short as a proof-of-concept. I am confident soon everyone will be able to see the full-feature film on the big screen.

LATIN HEAT: When can people see the film? 

DR. RUIZ: Currently, the full 20-minute short film can only be seen at film festivals. But in the meantime, everyone can see the trailer on my website www.RuizElevamosFilms.com.

The talented cast of The First Cowboy includes the leads Mauricio Mendoza as Don Ignacio Velasco and Fernanda Kelly as his wife Maria. Ryon Thomas and Bre Segars play the Palmers with Emma Elle Bird as the Young wife.

Music Composer Sid De La Cruz, Director of Photography Pablo G. Ledezma, Editor Sid Sotelo

The post ‘The First Cowboy’ The True Origin of the American Cowboy Is a Mexican Story first appeared on .

Mexican actor Gael García Bernal has been tapped to play gay amateur wrestler Saul Armendáriz Cassandro in a new Prime Video film.

The first images were just released by Prime Video of Bernal in costume, and leopard print, for his role as professional wrestler.

Armendáriz was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, but also spent a lot of time just across the Mexican border in Juárez, Chihuahua, his family’s native town where he competed at the highest levels in wrestling. In México, Armendáriz learned different techniques from other luchadores. He began his career in 1988..

Cassandro is written and directed by African-American Academy award winner Roger Ross Williams. David Teague and Julián Herbertt are also part of the writing team. The film also stars Roberta Colindrez, Perla De La Rosa, Gerardo Gatica, Joaquín Cosío, and Raúl Castillo.

Cassandro will Prime hit Prime Video in 2023.

The post Gael García Bernal to Play Legendary Mexican Luchador ‘Cassandro’ in Biopic first appeared on .

Mexican-American and award-winning writer/director and voice actor Jorge Gutierrez is set to direct I, Chihuauhua for Netflix. Stand-up comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias will star and produce along with Gutierrez.

I, Chihuauhua follows Chacho, a scrappy masked looking Chihuahua around the world. After learning his beloved home is in danger, Chacho dons his lucha libre mask to become Luchacho! The masked underdog enters an international fight tournament, competing against a hilarious and eclectic mix of animal fighters from all over the world. In the final epic fight he is up against a nefarious beast known as Chamuco.

“After The Book of Life and the amazing experience on Maya and the Three, I’m now thrilled to collaborate with Melissa, Gregg, Tito and all my friends at Netflix Animation on my follow up animated feature I, Chihuahua!” Gutierrez said. “And to finally tag-team a movie with my good friend and creative partner Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is a dream come true.”

Born in Mexico City, raised in Tijuana Gutierrez is a CalArts graduate. He has completed various films, cartoons, and paintings exploring his love affair with Mexican pop and folk culture. Gutierrez was the director & co-writer of the Guillermo Del Toro produced animated feature The Book of Life for Fox which earned him a 2014 Golden Globe Award nomination.

Iglesias is one of America’s most successful stand-up comedians performing to sold-out concerts around the world and is also one of the most watched comedians on YouTube with almost a billion views and more than 25 million fans across social media. 

“I cannot wait for everyone to see this wonderful film that celebrates underdogs in and out of the ring!” was Iglesias reaction to the news. “It has action, drama, laughs and twists & turns, like any great Lucha storyline movie should have.

Iglesias most recent collaborated with Netflix was his own TV series, Mr. Iglesias which ran for a year before it was cancelled.

Last year, Gutierrez and his production company Mexopolis announced an expanded partnership with Netflix. Under this deal, Gutierrez will write, direct, and produce new animated films, series and interactive projects across preschool, kids & family and adult animation. 

Writers for the animated film are Jorge Gutierrez, Doug Langdale, Candie Kelty Langdale. Tim Yoon joins Iglesias as producer for I, Chihuahua. The project is currently in pre-production.

The post Jorge Gutierrez and Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias Team Up with Netflix on ‘I, Chihuahua’ first appeared on .

A Netflix TV Show and an Upcoming Lifetime Movie Keeping Roberts Busy During The Pandemic

By Karina Noelle Castillo

Influenced by his experiences as a Mexican-American, television and film producer Mark Roberts is passionate about bringing Latino stories to the screen. “There’s a lot of conversation about Latino stories, about Mexican American stories, about Mexican immigrant stories. There’s so many different stories that fall into the category of Latino, now Latinx,” Roberts explains, and is why he feels he and actor/producer/TV host Mario Lopez work so well together.  “I think Mario and I have a tendency to really connect on our journeys as Mexican Americans. So we have a tendency to really be positive about who we are, about what we’re capable of”.

Roberts and Lopez recently teamed up to produce Feliz NaviDAD, one of the first movies to go into production during the pandemic for the Lifetime Network. This marks over a handful of collaborations for Roberts and Lopez over the past fifteen years, which includes their current hit TV show The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia currently airing part two of their first season on Netflix. 

Roberts began his career on the iconic film The Three Amigos when he was 19 years old. Transitioning from a studio tour guide, Roberts jumped on the opportunity to become a production assistant on the film. He was responsible for wrangling the extras on this comedy classic and the experience helped fuel his passion for filmmaking. 

His first break was on Los Angeles station of Telemundo when Eddie Dominguez, the general manager at the time, brought him on board to produce a Christmas Special. Although Roberts didn’t have any experience as a full fledged producer at the time, Dominguez didn’t see a problem. He recognized that Roberts was not afraid of the challenge and gave him the support to dip his toes into his first major producing endeavor. 

Roberts is also a seasoned documentary producer. His most recent project was Carlos Almaraz: Playing with Fire. The documentary premiered last year at the  Palm Springs International Film Festival. Almaraz, who passed in 1989 from his struggle with AIDS, was a prominent Mexican American artist and early proponent of the Chicano street arts movement. Carlos Almaraz: Playing with Fire is a retrospective of his impact on the Chicano and American arts community through his influential art and cultural activism. “His story was so rich and he was so talented and I didn’t understand why people didn’t understand who he was,” states Roberts. “Through the documentary work I figured out that, Latinos and Mexican artists that lived here in the United States weren’t categorized in the same way that American and European Artists were. So they were sort of a forgotten bunch.”

Continuing with the goal of bringing the Latino experience to the masses, The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia is a perfect example of what Roberts does so well. The series premiered early this year on February 17th. It spotlights a 15 year old scientist Ashley Garcia (Paulina Chavez) as she moves across the country to pursue a career in robotics, all while trying to navigate the peaks and valleys of her newfound teen-dom. 

Roberts talked about how he and Lopez came to the idea for the show.  “Originally our conversation was very small about ‘Hey let’s do something about a genius kid that happens to be Latino and that comes from this great line…and is a genius.’ And over a ten year period it developed into Ashley Garcia. The evolution of it was Seth Kurland coming in, and Netflix coming in…But the heart of it is creatively was wanting to do something that’s positive.” 

The idea for the TV film Feliz NaviDAD was hatched while Roberts walked and talked from one of Lopez’s jobs to another. With such a busy person, Robert says you have to catch him in between jobs. “On this one day, we had been wanting to do a Christmas movie ourselves, [with a ] Latino theme because there’s not a lot of Christmas movies with a Latino theme. So, we were in the elevator and he looks at me and says ‘How hard could this be?’ So that afternoon I sort of wrote what we talked about,” said Roberts. 

As luck would have it, Roberts was having dinner that night with one of their investors in their Casa Mexico Tequila venture. The investor expressed interest in the creative duo’s next filmmaking project and upon hearing the news of their Christmas film, he signed on to fund the script and get things started. From there, screenwriters Peter and Eliza Murrieta were hired and they found themselves in pre-production film. 

“It’s this beautiful story about a father and a daughter and how ‘this song’ became an anthem for her when she was little; she didn’t know it was the Feliz Navidad song [by Jose Feliciano], she thought it was Feliz NaviDAD about her dad. So they connected on this different level and she wants him [her dad who is a widower] to find a new love and she wants him to find the spirit again, and that happens in the movie.”

The shoot began in the first week of June and as one of the first project to shoot during the pandemic. There was much more to prepare for, as Roberts explained it, a “wild” ride. He detailed the extra precautions the production needed to take in order to get the go ahead from SAG-AFTRA and the other unions/guilds.

“It added an additional layer to everything we did, on and off the set. We put a lot of thought and research into our protocol and learned from the CDC, state, county and industry groups as they adjusted each week. I’m not sure if we were the first, but I know we were one of very few films shooting at the beginning of June, so we had to make sure our crew and cast understood the plans clearly. This was a new experience for everyone. 

As filmmakers, we are used to obstacles, big and small – we sort of thrive on forcing a square peg into a perfect circle. But add the ever present gravity and unknown of unpredictable Covid-19 and it felt like producing a film while being a contestant on Wipeout! Was today the day a crew member tested positive? Would our actors be affected? We started each day with precautions and protocol and when the DP was ready with the first shot, we all focused on what we came to do. I did get the sense it was important for people to work and for those of us who put Feliz NaviDAD together, we were committed to bringing this film to completion for the holidays 2020. 

We did follow strict protocol. A negative test was required before arriving on location. Testing once a week was mandatory. Temps, heart rate and a questionnaire before anyone went on set, everyday. Temps before you received your individually wrapped lunch. No craft service! That was tough. Movie sets love snacks.”

Mission accomplished by the team.  Feliz NaviDAD is now in post production and is due out for the holidays in December 2020.

In addition to the film and television projects Roberts has is also partnered with Lopez on the Casa Mexico Tequila brand with Olympian boxer Oscar de La Hoya as a partner. Casa México was a big hit at Lopez’s wedding a few years back, with his friends and family becoming major fans, so when the opportunity arose, they decided to become partners with Don Buccio, the founder of the tequila. The group of partners recently travelled to Mexico to shoot a commercial as they are getting ready to launch a major marketing campaign for the brand.

And if his talent and working on multiple productions didn’t extend far enough, Roberts also has a podcast called Let’s Get Into It with fellow filmmaker and makeup artist Rod “Tuddy” Rinks, in which the pair look to inspire aspiring filmmakers by providing them with invaluable lessons from their experiences with production over the years. For more information on Roberts’ projects you can follow him on @iceroberts on Instagram.

The post Mark Roberts Producing A Special Brand of Latinx Content first appeared on .

DeVon Franklin To Produce With Eva Longoria Directing

Exclusive To Latin Heat

By Luis Reyes

“The triumphant journey of Richard Montañez from Pepsico plant janitor into the echelon of the same company’s elite corporate suites is material more than suited for a Hollywood script. It is a story of triumph over adversity and a rise from marginalized obscurity into the brightness of celebrity.”

Enrique Castillo review of A Boy, a Burrito and a Cookie — April 1, 2014 on latinheat.com.

In a town where books becoming films may sometimes take up to twenty years or longer, Montañez began meeting with established Latino and non-Latinos producers about five years ago, which eventually led to a deal with award-winning Film & TV producer DeVon Franklin’s  (Miracles From Heaven) production company Franklin Entertainment.  

Montañez’s middle son Steven had contacted producer DeVon Franklin who had offices at Fox Studios and was just coming off the success of Miracles from Heaven. “Devon is a humble, capable young man, and has experience with inspirational movies,” Montañez explained. “I wanted Flamin’ Hot to be a movie that inspires, gives people hope and brings people together.”  

Franklin also expressed to Montañez that it was a love story toward corporate America in which the CEO of a company took a chance and changed the game in corporate America.  With that, “Franklin and my son Steven and I aligned,”  Montañez declared.

With DeVon on board as producer, a bidding frenzy ensued amongst Hollywood studios.  DeVon reviewed the offers and it was mutually decided they would go with Fox Searchlight because of the company’s track record with films with diverse casts. 

A Boy, A Burrito and a Cookie details how a son of Mexican immigrants, working as a janitor at the Frito Lay plant came up with the idea to infuse Cheetos with the unique flavor inspired by the Mexican grilled corn on the cobb — an elote — spiced in chili and lime.  At the plant, Montañez would ask for the throwaway batch of un-cheesed Cheetos, then he would take them home and experiment with added chili and lime on the Cheetos to get the taste just right.  

When PepsiCo President Roger Enrico put out a call for fresh ideas for the company, Montanez phoned Enricoon the East coast, his secretary amused that the janitor was calling the President of the company, put him through.  Enrico informed Montanez that he had two weeks to prepare a presentation, as he would be coming to California to hear his idea. Montañez and his wife went to the library and looked up marketing presentations which they proceeded to copy.  Two weeks later Montanez presented his idea to the CEO, and with that he changed the face of snack foods in America with his Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. 

Flamin’ Hot, the movie is now on a fast track for production and on August 26th it was announced that actress/producer and TV director Eva Longoria would be making her feature film directorial debut as the director of Flamin’ Hot.

 “I was hired at Frito lay as a janitor in 1977, worked on the idea in 88 and it didn’t hit the market until 1990 and it blew up,” recalls Montañez during an exclusive interview with Latin Heat. 

It was a billion-dollar idea that catapulted Montañez up the corporate ladder where he currently serves as Executive Vice President of Multicultural Sales and Community Activation. His success in his executive position at Pepsico has led to his being  nicknamed the “godfather of Hispanic branding.” 

Richard was born in Southern California and was the eleventh child born to his parents.  “The house we eventually lived in is now part of the Ontario Airport,” he recounts. He spent his early years in insular farm labor camps where Spanish was his first language. He was later bused to all-white schools (desegregation school busing) and the frustration of not being able to catch up linguistically let him to finally abandon his high school studies altogether and go to work. 

“You must understand there was no bilingual education at the time and there was a lot of separation and discrimination”. He jokingly refers to his speaking a “cartoon English.”

The film is based on his memoir, A Boy, a Burrito and a Cookie published in 2013.  Flamin Hot is scripted by Lewis Colick (Ladder 49) and will have a three-story arc, first with Montañez as an 8-year-old boy in a farm winery labor camp, followed by his teenage years and then his time at Frito Lay’s Rancho Cucamonga plant when he was hired as a janitor and his successful invention of the Hot Cheetos was born.

“It took me a long time to understand what had taken place in my life,”  Montañez relays.

 When his mom sent him to school on the first day of 3rd grade with a burrito for lunch, he was embarrassed. It was back in the 1960s. “Very few people had seen a burrito,” he writes in his memoir. “There I was with this burrito and with everyone staring at me. I put it back in my bag and hid it.”

The next day, when he asked his mom to make him a bologna sandwich and a cupcake like the other kids, she instead packed him two burritos, one for him to eat and one for him to use to make a friend. By the end of the week, the eight-year-old entrepreneur was selling burritos for 25 cents each.

“I learned at that moment that there was something special about being different, that there was a reason that we all just couldn’t fit into the same box,” Montañez writes. “My mom said to me, ‘This is who you are’.  The next day I shared the burrito and I realized it’s OK, and I fell in love with my culture.” he recalls during the interview.

Now a sought after motivational speaker as well, the author/entrepreneur started receiving calls from Hollywood producers expressing interest in his story and that’s when Montañez began thinking, “maybe there is something there.”

He entertained the idea and discussed it with his wife Judy, as he has always done. This is the reason why the film story is also about his grandmother, his mother and his wife Judy, he wanted to honor the importance of the Latina in the family life and culture. 

“All three pushed me. My wife filled out the job application [for the Frito Lay plant] for me. She has always been my inspiration. When I’m down, she pulls out the original job application to remind me of how far we’ve come,” he adds. “No way we can do this movie without honoring Latinas and that is another reason for Longoria’s involvement as a director,” he states.

“Eva Longoria came to the production meeting prepared and blew everyone away with her vision and presentation. She related to me her experiences as a Chicana, she sold it with her passion,” He exclaims. “No question in my mind, no question about it.”

To date, the most successful box-office Latino themed films, La Bamba, Spy Kids and Selena have emphasized the American dream, family empowerment, and music stardom. Flamin Hot is the classic rags to riches underdog story and the American dream. “But the movie is not just for Latinos.  I see it as starting off like La Bamba and transitioning into the Wolf of Wall Street” Montañez explained.

Montañez has plans to produce other movies as well. “What do I know about the movie business? Nothing, but look, I am doing it, producing a movie.” 

His goal is to open doors for Latinx in Hollywood in light of the recent USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report that found Latinos vastly underrepresented both in front of and behind the camera.  

“My story in Hollywood will bring other people along. I was able to do it and changed the numbers somewhat on corporate boards and marketing departments,” Montañez enthused.  “I didn’t kiss anybody’s ring and did not get anyone’s permission.  One needs to break ranks and go for it and do it,” he emphasizes.

“The ball is rolling on the movie now that we have our director, casting is underway and things are moving quickly.” 

Latin Heat will keep you updated with all the latest news and info on Flamin Hot as production progresses.

The post Richard Montanez Bio-Pic “Flamin’ Hot”: From Janitor to Corporate Elite first appeared on .