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The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) announced today that Yalitza Aparicio ( Roma‘) and Veronica Falcon (Queen of the South) will be honored at this year’s Impact Awards on February 22, 2019 which will be held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

For 22 years the NHMC has been recognizing Latino talent on film and TV at the Impact Award, usually held in February prior to the Academy Awards. It is at these awards gala where Latino talent is recognized for their work, in front, and behind the camera. Also lauded are Hollywood entities and individual that believe in diversity and the inclusion of Latinos on both sides of the camera.

This year’s most lauded Mexican actresses to date Aparicio, she becomes only the second Latina to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category (Salma Hayek was nominated in 2002 for Frida) With over 28 nominations for her role in Roma, winning the “New Hollywood Award” at the Hollywood Film Awards, she will add an Impact Award, and hopefully an Oscar to her list of acheivements.

Also an honoree that evening will be Falcon whose standout performance in Queen of the South has led to many tuning in to the USA Network for three years in a row.

Founded in 1986, by Armando Durón, Esther Renteria, and current president and CEO Alex Nogales, NHMC was created as a response to the lack of Latino representation in local news markets serving sizeable Latino audiences. Over three decades of advocacy, NHMC has increased the representation of Latinos behind and in front of the camera through media advocacy within the entertainment and news industry and with in-depth legal analysis for public policy reforms that advance affordable, open and secure communications.

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For media inquiries, please contact Alison Sotomayor at communications@nhmc.org

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This morning Alfonso Cuaron took the spotlight as his film Roma (loosely based on his childhood) received ten Oscar nominations, inclulding Best Achievement in Directing, the Best Foreign Film and Best Picture nomination.

Known as one of the “three amigo” directors from Mexico, along with Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) and Guillermo del Toro (Shape of Water 2018) whose movies have each won then an Oscar for directing. However, Cuaron was the first Mexican and Hispanic to win an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing. This year, he might very likely add a third Oscar to his mantle for his work in Roma.

Cuaron has personally received five Oscar nominations for Roma; Best Achievement in Directing, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture.  Cuaron ties with legendary filmmakers Warren Beatty and Orson Welles for multiple category nominations for the same film.

Yalitza Aparicio, the unknown school teacher turned actress who portrays the indigenous Oaxacan maid in Roma is the first Indigenous or Native American actress from Mexico nominated for an Oscar and the first Mexican actress to score a nomination in the Best actress category since Salma Hayek for Frida. 

The mother in Roma, Marina de Tavira, a seasoned Mexican actress was nominated as Best Supporting Actress. De Tavira as the Mother had a more difficult role to interpret given sparse dialogue she used exquisite body language to convey in subtle and through a series of gestures and scenes, the turmoil she was going through in her loveless marriage which in turn affected the family dynamics. She did this without the benefit of traditional close-ups).                   

Strong complex portrayals of Latin women from different social strata anchor the film and mirror each other in their strength, vulnerability and interdependency.

The last time a Mexican actress was nominated in the supporting actress category was Adriana Barraza in Inarritu’s Babel in 2006 and before then in 1955 when Katy Jurado was nominated for Broken Lance.

In 1988 Argentine actress Norma Aleandro was nominated for playing a maid in Mexican filmmaker Luis Mandoki’s Gaby: A True Story and in 1961 Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for the classic West Side Story.

Roma also received Oscar nominations for Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Foreign Language film (Mexico) for a total of ten nominations. It is quite possible that Roma could win not only Best Foreign Language film but also the Best Picture category as well.  Roma marks a milestone in Oscar history in that for the past five years Mexican born filmmakers have dominated the Oscars in major categories.

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