By Elia Esparza

She was 53. Shawna Baca died Sunday, May 28, 2024, after battling an aggressive and terminal cancer.

A gifted cinematographer, writer and director, Shawna was born on September 9, 1970, and was raised in Montebello, California. She founded 4 Elements Productions where she amassed 14 producer credits with several of her award-winning short films having garnered recognition at national and international film festivals and showcased around the globe. 

 She is best known for short films, Girl Please! (2006), Isabel (2007) 3:52 (2005), and Rose’s Garden (2003). Her 3:52 stars America Ferrara and was the recipient of the 2006 Audience Award from the San Diego Women Film Festival and the Tabloid Witch Award, an Honorable Mention in 2007. 

In 2007, Shawna was selected by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett from more than 20,000 filmmakers to be part of his 2007 FOX reality show, On The Lot after catching their attention with her short film, Isabel.

Her other producing credits include Laseerium, Désirée, The Lesson, Bearspring, Her Morbid Desires, We Are All Latino, Tomoko’s Kitchen, Dolorosas, Man, Where’s My Shoe?, Impersonal Impression

Los Angeles’ La Opinion newspaper awarded Shawna the “Mujeres Destacadas” Award. She was also honored at the Latina Symposium (Washington D.C.) with an award and recognition for being a “Latina Entrepreneur,” and given a scholarship to the prestigious Tuck School of Business Executive Education Program at Dartmouth University by Latina Style magazine. 

She is the author of a transformational 2020 memoir, “Fear Less: An Agoraphobic’s Journey Out of Mental Purgatory,” which chronicles her debilitating panic attacks and agoraphobia at the age of 21 that left her sequestered in her home for over a year. It was at this time that her Indigenous mother took her to see a “medicine man” (shaman) on the Pala Indian reservation and cured her in a sweat lodge ceremony. Shawna states in her book, that this shaman, “…cured me that night in a sweat lodge ceremony, which was nothing short of a modern-day exorcism.”

This experience led her on a lifelong journey of exploration into Indigenous shamanism, spirituality and the unknown. 

How this writer met Shawna was through her book and it was such a gift to be able to talk about our childhood traumas and losses. For me, it was a cherished gift to have someone else to talk about life challenges and dealing with ongoing childhood PTSD. 

A book excerpt, “Fear Less: Conquering the Demons of Mental Purgatory” goes on to detail a labyrinthine journey that explores my road to healing using various Western and Eastern modalities, conventional therapist, twelve step programs, and spiritual healers, all of whom helped me learn how to deprogram the emotional condition that resulted from childhood trauma and a series of loses and to instill tools to reprogram new life conditions and achieve breakthroughs that re-awakened my true self. It is a gritty inner exploration into the darkness that lived inside me, and how I challenged and re-framed my mind to face those inner demons to cultivate new life conditions.” 

How did Shawna got into filmmaking? Her book states that she got her first taste of filmmaking at the tender age of six when John Cassavetes rented her uncle’s house to make the movie, A Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Four years later, her uncle lost her at the wrap party for One from the Heart, where she met Francis Ford Coppola. When he asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she answered confidently, “You.” He tried to talk her out of it, but she held her ground. And, how grateful we are that she did.

Shawna was born in east Los Angeles. She’s part Apache, Yaqui, Spanish and French. Family legend has it that Shawna was named after a medicine woman named Schwanawa who healed her great grandmother after an illness. A promise was made by her great grandfather that one of their daughter’s would be named after her. 

Shawna was the chosen one to fulfill her great grandfather’s promise… may your celestial angel spirits from your indigenous birthrights—guide your mystical journey home. 

Godspeed, Shawna. Thank you for your contributions. You will be missed.

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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 

The post Applications for the 3rd Annual MACEF Film Grant are Now Open first appeared on .

By Elia Esparza

There is nothing like the thrill of an emerging filmmaker watching their hard work and sacrifice of their finished film screen to the public. Emerging filmmaker Roxanna Denise Stevens Ibarra’s short film Tesoro will be screening on August 8^th – on  YouTube. Tesoro is part of the University of Arizona’s School of Theatre, Film & Television digital entertainment industry event, I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN 2020.

Watch. Support. And, be a part of the solution to helping Latino filmmakers move their way up. 

Ibarra’s film is about an elderly man being forced to sell his beloved automobile, which he dubs, “Tesoro,” in order to make ends meet. However, giving up his car comes at the price of having to relive his memories of the great joy his Tesoro brought him during his lifetime. 

Ibarra is a filmmaker who has done a marvelous job of capturing much of her childhood familial stories. 

“This was a story I could tell, as I’ve lived through it generationally,” said Ibarra, who wrote, directed, and stars. “The stories flow through my veins as water does through roots. They grow.”

Ibarra added about the inspiration for Tesoro. “The stories were memories told by my Tata while my Tios sang about lost loves, they were Mami’s stories about my Tata working in the fields and sending money to his brothers, mama, and Tia at the age of fifteen.

“The miscarriages. The romance. The cars. These were snippets of the stories I was told, lived through, and strung together to give as a love letter to my community. To tell the stories I’ve never seen on television or on the big screen, but have heard more than I would have asked to. I had to make this movie so that these stories would not die with each generation of my Mexican-American familia.”

Ibarra is a young talented Mexican-American filmmaker whose debut film, Tesoro, is a powerful start to her career. And, no doubt, she is “one to watch.”

Tesoro is a sensitive and thoughtful debut film—and like its title, a gem of a short movie. Watch it on August 8^th! For more information about the 2020 edition, click I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN. 

The post “Tesoro” Screens at I Dream In Widescreen 2020 first appeared on .