Spotlight Dorado, McDonald’s is using its influence and scale to help boost Latino representation in film
McDonald’s has partnered with Nuestro Stories, the nation’s only media platform devoted to Latino origins and histories, to launch a special Spotlight Dorado micro-digital documentary on The Latino Origins of Batman.
The short form doc and multi-media content focuses on the remarkable origin story of Batman, who traces back to the first Latino superhero Zorro, and who in turn was inspired by the real-life exploits of Mexican American, Joaquin Murrieta (1829 –1853).
Spotlight Dorado is a new multi-year platform aimed at uplifting Latino talent and arming them with access to mentorship and coveted resources to change their career trajectories and put them steps closer to making their cinematic dreams come true. The program includes a short film contest alongside acclaimed actress, director, producer and representation advocate Stephanie Beatriz.
Ten semi-finalists were selected on July 18, and three finalists will be chosen by August 8. The finalists will have their screenplays produced into a short film with mentorship from some of the most influential Latino voices in the industry. The films will debut on Spotlight Dorado later this year, and the winner will be decided by popular vote.
Even though Latinos represent nearly 20% of the U.S. population, their stories make up less than 1% of those told by Hollywood.[1] Without mentorship, connections, and financial support, many Latino filmmakers struggle to produce films.
In the spirit of Spotlight Dorado, the digital and social media content was produced by the Latina-owned Brilla Media, which is the parent company of Nuestro Stories. Every facet of the storytelling, from script to directing, editing, and research, were produced by team of Latinos with Mexican-American, Cuban American, Puerto Rican, Colombian-American, and Venezuelan-American descent. This is the first part of a content series McDonald’s is producing with Nuestro Stories.