The film Ya No Estoy Aquí, series Love Victor and Pose and actors Demian Bichir, JD Pardo, Aubrey Plaza and MJ Rodriguez are among the winners of the 2021 Imagen Awards.
The awards recognize Latino talent and executives in television and film that contribute to the accurate portrayal of Latino in Hollywood.
Mexican director Fernando Frias’s Ya No Estoy Aquí (I’m No Longer Here) won the award for Best Feature Film. It tells the story of the young leader of a street party gang forced to immigrate to the U.S. after a mixup with a local cartel, but who quickly longs to return home. The film also won two additional Imagen Awards, one for Frias for Best Director and another for Joe Rodríguez and Javier Nuño for Best Music Supervision for Film or Television.
The three prizes for Ya No Estoy Aquí add to the accolades the film has collected since its release last year. Ya No Estoy Aquí swept at the 2020 Ariel Awards, Mexico’s equivalent of the Oscars, winning in 10 categories, including top prizes–Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Also, it was shortlisted for the 2021 Oscars in the Best International Feature as Mexico’s official entry.
Bichir won Best Actor Feature Film for his role of Miguel in Land, a drama about a bereaved woman seeking out a new life off the grid in Wyoming.
The award to Best Actress Feature Film went to Plaza for her lead in Black Bear. She plays a filmmaker at a creative impasse seeking solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and surprising ways.
MJ Rodriguez took home the prize to Best Actress Television Drama for her role as Blanca Evangelista in the FX series Pose. That same role earned her a nod for a Primetime Emmy Award, making history as the first transgender woman to be nominated in a major acting category of the coveted prize. Pose also won Best Primetime Program Drama.
Another major winner was Hulu’s Love Victor, which also scored twice, for Best Comedy Primetime Program and Best Actor Michael Cimino.
(Credit: Jackson Davis/Imagen Foundation)
The 36th Annual Imagen Awards winners were determined by an independent panel of entertainment industry executives and Latina and Latino community leaders. The award ceremony was live-streamed on PBSSoCal.org and KCET.org.
The Imagen Foundation’s Norman Lear Writer’s Award went to television writer Tanya Saracho, the creator, showrunner and executive producer of the Starz series Vida. Her producer credits also include the popular series How to Get Away with Murder, starring Viola Davis, and HBO’s Looking.
Below is the complete list of winners:
FILM
Best Feature Film: Ya No Estoy Aquí / I’m No Longer Here (Netflix; Panorama Global for Netflix)
Best Director – Feature Film: Fernando Frías De La Parra, Ya No Estoy Aquí / I’m No Longer Here (Netflix; Panorama Global for Netflix)
Best Actor – Feature Film: Demián Bichir, Land (Focus Features / a Big Beach Production / Flashlight Films)
Best Actress – Feature Film: Aubrey Plaza, Black Bear (Momentum Pictures, an Entertainment One Company; Tandem Pictures, Oakhurst Entertainment & Blue Creek Pictures, in association with Productivity Media and Radiant Films International)
TELEVISION
Best Primetime Program – Drama: Pose (FX; 20th Television)
Best Primetime Program – Comedy: Love, Victor (Hulu; Hulu, 20th Television, Temple Hill)
Best Primetime Program – Special or Movie: One Day at a Time – Animated Special (PopTV; Sony Pictures Television, Act III, Snowpants Productions, GloNation)
Best Director – Television: Tanya Saracho, Vida (STARZ; Big Beach and Chingona Productions in association with Starz Originals)
Best Actor – Television (Drama): JD Pardo, Mayans M.C. (FX Networks; 20th Television and FX Productions)
Best Actress – Television (Drama): Mj Rodriguez, Pose (FX; 20th Television)
Best Actor – Television (Comedy): Michael Cimino, Love, Victor (Hulu; Hulu, 20th Television, Temple Hill)
Best Actress – Television (Comedy): Barbie Ferreira, Unpregnant (HBO Max; HBO Max presents a WarnerMax / PictureStart / Berlanti / Schechter Films production)
Best Supporting Actor – Television (Drama): Colman Domingo, Euphoria Special: Part 1 Rue: “Trouble Don’t Last Always” (HBO; HBO in association with Reasonable Bunch, A24, Little Lamb, Dreamcrew, ADD Content Agency | HOT | Tedy Productions)
Best Supporting Actress – Television (Drama): Morena Baccarin, The Twilight Zone (Paramount+; CBS Studios in association with Monkeypaw Productions and Genre Films)
Best Supporting Actor – Television (Comedy): Harvey Guillén, What We Do In The Shadows (FX; FX Productions)
Best Supporting Actress – Television (Comedy): Diana Maria Riva, Dead to Me (Netflix; CBS Television Studios for Netflix)
Best Young Actor – Television: Madison Reyes, Julie and the Phantoms (Netflix)
Best Voice-Over Actor – Television: Justina Machado, One Day at a Time – Animated Special (PopTV; Sony Pictures Television, Act III, Snowpants Productions, GloNation)
Best Variety or Reality Show: Tie
A Tribute to Linda Ronstadt at The Soraya (PBS; KCET and The Soraya)
Shine True (Fuse; Vice Studios, OUTtv Canada, Fuse Media)
Best Young Adult Programming: Julie and the Phantoms (Netflix)
Best Youth Programming: The Casagrandes (Nickelodeon)
Best Music Composition for Film or Television: Cristobal Tapia de Veer, The Third Day (HBO; HBO in association with Sky Studios, Plan B, and Punchdrunk)
Best Music Supervision for Film or Television: Joe Rodríguez & Javier Nuño, Ya No Estoy Aquí / I’m No Longer Here (Netflix; Panorama Global for Netflix)
Best Documentary: Tie
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (Netflix; A Netflix Original Documentary / A Muck Media Production in Association with Key Rat, Inc. & Topic Studios)
POV: The Infiltrators (PBS; American Documentary | POV, Pueblo Sight & Sound, Chicago Media Project, Naked Edge Film, 3DMC, Baked Studios, The National Day Laborer Organizing Network)
Best Informational Program: Street Food: Latin America (Netflix; Boardwalk Pictures for Netflix)
Best Short Film: UNLADYLIKE2020: Jovita Idar (PBS American Masters; Unladylike Productions LLC in association with The WNET Group’s American Masters.)
Best Commercial Advertisement or Social Awareness Campaign: Latinos Are Essential (Latino Public Broadcasting; PBS)