The 37th annual Imagen Awards nominations were announced for The Imagen Foundation in Los Angeles. Award-winning director Ben DeJesus and producer Jill Krikorian’s documentary film for American Masters’ Voces: Lights, Camera, Acción was nominated in the Best Short Film category.
The award ceremony will take place on Sunday, October 2, 2022, in Los Angeles at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
“It is an honor to be nominated among such a great group of content creators. We continue to do our best to bring forward our stories in the most authentic manner possible” said DeJesus.
Lights, Camera, Acciòn, a co-production of Latino Public Broadcasting’s VOCES and American Masters, is a celebration of the incredible impact that Latinos have made in Hollywood – past, present and future, with a focus on the exciting new wave of talent that is transforming the industry.
From award-winning director DeJesus and executive producer John Leguizamo, the documentary captures the candid perspectives of prominent voices in film and television, from in front and behind the camera, sharing their challenges, personal journeys and outlook on the future.
DeJesus is an Emmy and Tony-nominated director, producer, writer and co-founder of NGL Studios with his partner John Leguizamo. With over a decade of experience in the U.S. multicultural, Latinx and youth markets, DeJesus has created over 100 hours of award-winning content including non-fiction, episodic, music videos and branded content.
Ben got his start as stage actor before landing at MTV, where he became one of the original writer/producers for several seasons of MTV Cribes. He then went on to produce and write for MTV News, VH1, mun2, Nick @ Nite, and many of the on-air VJ’s.
Recent Television credits include: (PBS) American Masters: Lights, Camera, Acción; (CBS) Essential Heroes: Momento Latino, exec-produced and hosted by Eva Longoria; (Peacock) The Latino Presidential Inauguration Special and multiple episodes of (Disney) Bunk’d, the hit multi- cam sitcom. Currently, Ben is directing and exec-producing a 6-episode series for MSNBC hosted by Leguizamo.
Film credits include: Raul Julia: The World’s a Stage which received an Emmy nomination in the Non-Fiction Series category in 2020, along with his second Imagen Award and Best Latinx Film Award by the National Association of Independent Latino Producers (NALIP). Ben also directed Great Performances: John Leguizamo’s Road to Broadway where he won his first Imagen Award for Best Documentary. His previous feature doc (PBS) Tales from a Ghetto Klown was also produced by DeJesus and Academy Award- Winner® Fisher Stevens (The Cove) and premiered nationwide.
