Submission Deadline: Until January 15

The Mexican-American Cultural Foundation, a U.S. based non-profit organization dedicated to uplifting the Latino image in film and and television, will hold the 4th Edition of the Mexican-American Film and Television Festival  & Awards (MAFTF)  Saturday, April 19th and Sunday 20th, 2025, returning to its homebase at the Harmony Gold Theater in the heart of Hollywood. 

Filmmakers wishing to showcase their work at MAFTF are invited to submit now through our website  (www.MAFTF.org) where they can also find submission requirements. The final deadline for  submission is January 15^th , 2025. 

This year MAFTF continues its mission of amplifying the voices of Chicano/Mexican-American filmmakers with its theme Bridging Generations By Our Shared Roots: Somos De  Aquí Y Somos De Allá, which furthers their mission. The aim is to bridge the diverse experiences of Mexican born filmmakers and the Mexican-American/Chicano-born filmmakers, in an effort to showcase the nuanced difference and similarities which will foster communication, cultural awareness, and  shared identity through their projects.

The reality is, being Mexican-American fosters an opportunity to benefit from two rich cultures, shared experiences, and access to more perspectives that differ from one single  culture mindset. We are united, fierce, and resilient. 

MAFTF is a two day event with screenings of short films, features, and television content, culminating with the yearly Illustrious Award ceremony on April 20, 2025.  

“As we proudly announce the 2025 edition of the Mexican-American Film and Television Festival, I am reminded of the incredible success of our past three editions,” said MAFTF Director Dr. Jose-Luis Ruiz. “However, I am  also aware that despite our shared heritage, filmmakers from Mexico and  Chicano/Mexican-American filmmakers have not always collaborated as closely as we could. This year’s festival theme is a call to action – a reminder that by working together,  we can amplify our voices, share our stories, and celebrate our rich cultural diversity.

Dr. Ruiz, adds, “I am  excited to see the amazing work that will emerge from this collaboration and I invite all  filmmakers to join us on this journey.” 

MAFTF enlists a panel of judges consisting of Hollywood industry professionals who will be judging the submissions in the following categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Short Film, Best TV Series, Best Male Actor, Best  Female Actress, Best Screenplay For Film, and Best Screenplay For TV.  

Our Illustrious awards honor Industry leaders and honor those in the industry pushing to change the narrative and how they go  above and beyond. Our past honorees have included producer Yvett Merino (Encanto), directors Patricia Riggen (G20, Miracles from Heaven), Writer/Director Luis Valdez (La Bamba/Zoot Suit), Frank Rodriguez, Head of Distribution at Amazon (MGM), and Producer Moctesuma Esparza (Selena).

Tickets will be available for purchase in early 2025.  Check our website at www.MAFTF.org

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The mission of MACEF is to address the negative image of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans/Chicanos who have been largely portrayed in the media through degrading stereotypes such as criminals, the help, lazy, illegal invaders, and uneducated, with devastating effects on the community. The mission includes The Mexican-American Film and Television Festival & Awards which was designed to provide Mexican-American/Chicano filmmakers, who represent 40 million Americans of Mexican descent, a venue to showcase, promote, and celebrate their work. to promote positive media content, as well as foster future Mexican-American Chicana/o filmmakers.

As films, TV, and media content online and on social media have a tremendous impact on the narrative, perception, and reputation of our community, MACEF launched the MACEF Filmmaking Grants with the intention of promoting a more accurate portrayal of our community.

The grants awards are part of MACEF’s overall three-pronged approach to achieving its mission which includes:

The MACEF Filmmaker Scholarship will further the education of aspiring filmmakers who want to enter the film/television industry.

The MACEF Filmmaker Grant. This year two $5,000 grants will be awarded to selected filmmakers.

The Mexican-American Film/Television Festival, Grants and Awards, a yearly event celebrating and sponsoring films, television, and streaming content made by Mexican-American/Chicana/os with positive and true-to-life stories, slated for May of 2024.

Eligibility and Submissions Process for the MACEF Film Grant

Who Can Apply:

Individuals already in the industry or starting out who need funds to finish their short film, a feature-length film, or a TV pilot to put it on the market.

Film school students working on their thesis film are encouraged to apply.

Filmmakers of any background can apply, however, the production team must include at least one producer, writer, or director, and one main actor who identifies as Mexican-American or Chicana/o, of any generation or mixed ethnicity.

Qualifying:

To qualify for this grant, the applicant must submit the script of the short film, feature-length film, or TV pilot, and be in an advanced stage of pre-production, production, or post-production.

Qualifying films will be assessed for the quality of the story, culturally positive content, the production team assembled, and the viability of the project. Non-stereotypical stories will have priority.

Submission deadline: September 15, 2023

Grantees will have their film highlighted at the First Annual Mexican-American Film/Television Festival in May of 2024.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY 

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Films about New York’s Latin jazz, a new generation of crime writers in the U.S.-Mexico border, an Afro-Latina running for the Colombian presidency and colorism in Mexico are among the latest round of projects funded by Latino Public Broadcasting. 

The projects explore a variety of stories, with a focus on the diversity of Latino arts and recent reports on the changing political scene in the U.S. and throughout Latin America, according to LPB. They consist of broadcast and digital media projects that will receive monies from three different funds of the nonprofit, which in turn is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of the 16 selections, three are supported by the Current Issues Fund and the rest by the Public Media Content and Digital Media funds.

Arts programs include The Music Never Ends, a crash course on the history of the Latin jazz scene in the Big Apple featuring the Mambo Legends Orchestra; Border Noir, about the new wave of crime writers chronicling life in the U.S./Mexico border; and Paquito D’Rivera: From Carne y Frijol to Carnegie Hall, a biography of the

Cuban-born jazz legend. 

Other projects are Igualada, about a young Afro-Latina community activist running for the presidency in Colombia; Undocumented Justice, a portrait of the first undocumented attorney to argue a case before the Supreme Court; and Mexico’s Reckoning: A History of Colorism, about the country’s burgeoning movement for racial justice.

“We are very proud to support the extraordinary work of these filmmakers who truly represent the amazing diversity within our Latino creative community,” says Sandie Viquez Pedlow, LPB executive director. “These productions also represent a vital step in addressing the dismal lack of Latino voices in today’s media; our passion and our mission (are) to correct that imbalance. These new projects remind us that there is an endless number of stories about our community that need to be told and we can’t wait to share them with viewers nationally.”

The following is the complete list of projects:

BROADCAST

Untitled Prison Hunger Strike Film
Producer and co-director: JoeBill Muñoz
Funding: Current Issues Fund
Three men look to build new lives after surviving decades of solitary confinement in California prisons. But as time passes, memories of their past still grip them. This film tells how these men and 30,000 others overcome impossible odds and orchestrate a hunger strike to abolish indefinite solitary confinement.

Igualada
Producer: Juan Yepes; director: Juan Mejia
Funding: Current Issues Fund
As Colombia’s streets burn with unrest, one determined woman dares to challenge an entrenched political establishment on the country’s biggest stage. Against all odds, Francia Márquez, an Afro-Latina rural community activist, has launched a presidential campaign where her uncompromising appeal for justice inspires a country by allowing it to dream.

Untitled
Producer/director: Bernardo Ruiz; producer: Gabriela Alcalde
Funding: Current Issues Fund
Part procedural, part true-crime thriller, this documentary tells the story of a history-making collaboration between a forensic scientist from Texas and a group of Latin American students, whose work to identifying the bodies of missing migrants will ultimately change the course of forensic science and international human rights.

Border Noir
Producer: Isaac Artenstein; director: Alejandro Meter
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
A cinematic journey along the U.S.-Mexico border featuring crime writers from both sides, working in a popular genre that reflects multiple and nuanced perspectives about immigration, sexuality, national identity, and globalization, while embracing a search for authenticity and justice.

Mexico’s Reckoning: A History of Colorism
Director/producer: Phillip Rodriguez
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
Helmed by the filmmaker of the docs The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo and Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle, the film will follow the movement for racial justice in Mexico, capturing the clashes between the overwhelmingly white elites who deny the severity–or even existence–of Mexican racism, and the activists on the ground who are leading the movement to unmask and dismantle it.

The Music Never Ends
Executive producer and director: Mari Keiko Gonzalez; executive producer: Lorraine Galvis
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
This new musical documentary follows The Mambo Legends Orchestra, some of whose members are also former members of the legendary Tito Puente Orchestra. Equal parts love letter and history lesson, the film traces the cultural significance of Afro-Cuban jazz–a fusion of the big band sound of the jazz era with Cuban music created in New York City in the 1940s.

Paquito D’Rivera: From Carne y Frijol to Carnegie Hall
Producer and director: Juan Mandelbaum
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
A look at the life of jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera and his extraordinary journey from child prodigy in Havana, Cuba, to 14-time Grammy-winning international music artist and composer.

The Game Plan
Producer and director: Mylène Moreno
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
The feature-length doc follows young female student-athletes who are leveraging their soccer skills to launch their lives. Pre-Covid-19, the female futbolistas of Orange County’s Fullerton College were already swimming against the tide; since the pandemic, their obstacles have been fully exposed.

TheyDream
Producer and director: William Caballero
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
The animated documentary is a time capsule about the filmmaker’s Puerto Rican-American family. It uses motion-capture technology to creatively visualize the family’s various realities, setbacks, hopes and dreams.

Undocumented Justice
Director and producer: Marlene (Mo) Morris; co-producer: Lidieth Arevalo
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
When ICE threatens 700,000 fellow DREAMers, Luis Cortes Romero fights back–and becomes the first undocumented attorney to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

American Sons
Director and cinematographer: Andrew Gonzales; producer: Laura Varela
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
A decade after the well-documented death of Corporal Jorge Villarreal during the War in Afghanistan, his closest Marine brothers are fighting their toughest battle yet–surviving in the civilian world.

DIGITAL MEDIA

Bertie the Brilliant
Producer and director: Gabriela Garcia Medina
Funding: Digital Media Fund
A young boy takes on chores and small jobs around his neighborhood to raise money for a ticket to a magic show. But when his grandmother loses her job, he is faced with a difficult decision.

Hair
Producer: Brian Khan; co-creators: Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo
Funding: Digital Media Fund
When everything beautiful fades, the only thing left is the joy you shared in the community. This is a story about a village contained in a Latina beauty salon, where hair–and spirits–are lifted.

The Kill Floor
Producer, director and writer: Carlos Avila
Funding: Digital Media Fund
When the Covid-19 pandemic engulfs a meatpacking plant in his rural hometown, a young Latino reporter returns to uncover the urgent and deadly circumstances threatening the plant’s workers – including his father.

First It Was My Dream
Creator and cinematographer: Dylan Golden
Funding: Digital Media Fund
After the unexpected closing of New York City’s Mendez boxing gym, Andy Dominguez, an undocumented fighter from Mexico, tries to prove he’s worthy of a World Title shot despite his status.

Punk Is Punk
Producer, director and writer: Kimberly Bautista
Funding: Digital Media Fund
A punk rocker gender-queer parent is hesitant when their child wants a quinceañera, a gender-normative gathering that sets the stage for them to face their estranged, old-school father.

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Apply at HERE

Dr. Jose-Luis Ruiz, president of the Mexican-American Cultural Education Foundation, announced the opening of the submission period for the inaugural Mexican-American Cultural Education Foundation Filmmaker Grant. 

MACEF was founded with a mission to address the negative image of  Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who have been largely portrayed in the media through degrading stereotypes such as “criminals”, “the help”, “lazy”, “illegal invaders” and “uneducated”, with devastating effects to the community. The MACEF board has decided that it is an important part of our mission to promote positive media content, as well as foster future Mexican-American, Chicana/o filmmakers to proactively change the narrative. 

As films, TV and media content online and on social media have a tremendous impact on the narrative, perception, and reputation of our community, MACEF has chosen to promote positive content and encourage future Mexican-American filmmakers to proactively change the narrative. 

The Mexican-American Film/Television Festival, grants and awards will serve to promote a more accurate portrayal, showing Mexican-Americans and Chicanas/os as a valuable part of American society. 

MACEF’S three-pronged approach is as follows: 

1. The Mexican-American Film/Television Festival, Grants and Awards, a yearly event celebrating and sponsoring films, television, and streaming content made by Mexican-American/Chicana/os with positive and true-to-life stories.  

2. The MACEF Filmmaker Scholarship which will further the education of aspiring filmmakers who want to enter the film/television industry.   

3. The MACEF Filmmaker Grant.

Eligibility and Submissions Process for the MACEF Film Grant

MACEF Advisory Board members Alex Nogales, chairman and CEO emeritus of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and Naibe Reynoso, an Emmy-Award winning journalist and author and publisher of Contodo Press, will oversee the selection process.  

Eligibility:   Individuals already in the industry or starting out who need funds to finish their short film, a feature-length film, or TV pilot to put it on the market. Film school students working on their thesis film are encouraged to apply. Filmmakers of any background can apply, however, the production team must include at least one producer, writer, or director, and one main actor who identifies as Mexican-American or Chicana/o, of any generation or mixed ethnicity. 

Submissions: To qualify for this grant the applicant must submit the script of the short film, feature-length film, or TV pilot, and be in an advanced stage of pre-production, production, or post-production. Qualifying films will be assessed by quality of the story, culturally positive, the production team assembled, and the viability of the project. Non-stereotypical stories will have priority. 

Grantees will have their film highlighted at the First Annual Mexican-American Film/Television Festival in May of 2022. 

Submission Period:  April 1 – June 15, 2021

Applications will be accepted between April 1 and June 15, 2021. Those chosen to receive the grant will be announced July 15 and the award amount will be dispersed at an August 2021 MACEF Reception. Grantees must present their film or television program at the first Mexican-American Film/Television Festival scheduled for May of 2022. 

MACEF’s core goal is to spotlight the contributions the Mexican-American culture and people have given to America. We offer a free library of live and online seminars, grants and scholarships to inspire pride and motivate success, specifically designed for Mexican immigrants, Mexican-Americans, Chicanos and any person wishing to embrace diversity and progress.

For more information on how to apply: https://www.mexicanamericancef.org under Scholarships & Grants.

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