Written by acclaimed writer and director Alejandra Márquez Abella and based on the book Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut by José Hernández.

The film also stars Rosa Salazar, Veronica Falcon, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Bobby Soto, and Eric Johnson. A Million Miles Away premieres on Amazon Prime on September 15th. Creating content by Latinos about Latinos for universal audiences.

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New to Chicago P.D. is Lisseth Chavez!

Lisseth Chavez will appear in a recurring role on the upcoming 7^th season of NBC’s Chicago P.D.  Chavez will take on the role of Vanessa Rojas, a streetwise undercover cop. The NBC crime drama revolves around the men and women of the Chicago Police Departments elite intelligence unit combatting the city’s most notorious crimes. 

Chavez‘s contract has the possibility of extending into a regular character on the series now that Jon Seda’s Detective Antonio Dawson has left the show. The young actress recently recurred on ABC’s medical drama Station 19 as fire academy graduate “Kat” Noonan.

Lisseth is best known for her role as Ximena Sinfuego on the long-running Freeform series The Fosters.  Chicago P. D. is produced by Wolf Entertainment in association with Universal Television filmed on location in Chicago. Chavez is represented by Osbrink talent agency, Link Entertainment and Stone Genow.

Alita: Battle Angels’ Rosa Salazar Stars in New Amazon Prime Series Undone

Rosa Salazar is starring in a new one-hour Sci-Fi series for Amazon studios called Undone. It uses cutting edge Rotoscope animation technology to tell the story of Alma, a dissatisfied San Antonio daycare worker who survives a car crash, only to realize she now has an unusual relationship with time and seeks to solve the mystery of her father’s death.

The advanced animation technology Rotoscope takes place when animators sketch colors and texture over each frame of recorded digital video. Season 1 of Undone consists of eight episodes that will debut on Amazon Prime later this year, but no premiere date has been set.

With $404 million in the worldwide box-office and generally favorable review from film critics, Robert Rodriquez and James Cameron’s manga film adaptation Alita: Battle Angel with Salazar in the title role has just been released on DVD and is sure to expand its fan base. 

 At the recent Comic-Con in San Diego star, Rosa Salazar urged everyone to buy DVD’s or Blu Rays to prove to Disney/Fox that there are interest and a demand for a sequel to Alita: Battle Angel. Michelle Rodriguez’sRos mentor Gelda and other characters were briefly included in the movie in hopes of developing the characters in a sequel. Rodriguez concluded the movie with the intention of making a sequel and he and Cameron, inspired by the original source material, had worked out continuing storylines.

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Two new big budget studio films, Miss Bala and Alita: Battle Angel are produced by predominantly Latino filmmakers starring Latinas Gina Rodriguez and Rosa Salazar, in the title roles respectively, as new kinds of cinema icons, Kick Ass, Action Heroines.

With Roma leading the way forward, we will have to wait and see if Miss Bala and Alita: Battle Angel mark a new cinematic era for complex fully realized Latina lead roles and the opportunity for Latina actresses to portray them in major motion pictures.”

From Virgin to Badass?

Golden Globe award-winning actress Gina Rodriguez (Jane The Virgin) stars as Gloria in Sony Pictures Miss Bala opening nationwide on Friday February 1.  Miss Bala an English language remake and refashioning of the critically acclaimed 2011 Mexican film of the same name directed by Gerardo Naranjo.

Rodriguez portrays Gloria, a young Mexican-American makeup artist who discovers an inner strength in a dangerous world of cross border crime when she tries to rescue a friend who becomes involved with a violent drug cartel and disappears after winning a beauty contest.  Ismael Cruz Cordova (Ray Donovan) a Puerto Rican actor co-stars as Lino, the charismatic drug cartel leader. Aislinn Derbez plays Isabel. If the last name sounds familiar, the actress is the daughter of famed Mexican actor/producer/director Eugenio Derbez (Latin Lover).  The film also stars Anthony Mackie (The Avengers) and features the additional talents of Ricardo Abarca, Matt Lauria, and Christina Rodlo.

Pablo Cruz (Cesar Chavez) who produced the original film under his production company Canana in Mexico partnered with Kevin Misher (The Scorpion King: Book of Souls) on the remake which shot on location in and around Tijuana, Baja California Mexico. They brought Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight Sagas) to put the new spin into action.

Pablo Cruz (Cesar Chavez) produced the original film and for the remake partners with Kevin Misher shot the remake under the direction of Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight Sagas) on locations in and around Tijuana, Baja California Mexico.  Graciela Mazon(The Mask Of Zorro) served as costume designer for the film.

Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel starring Rosa Salazar (Maze Runner, Divergent) in the title role is a $200 million Twentieth Century Fox production directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Spy Kids) and a collaboration of a script with James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic) who also produced is producer on this highly anticipated film which opens nationwide in 3D on February 14^th.
Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Marshashala Ali and Jackie Earle Haley also star in this epic adventure of a female cyborg who must rediscover her past that is based on a popular Japanese Anime/Manga based on Yukito Kishiro graphic novel series “Gunnm”.  David Valdes (The Green Mile, Unforgiven) produced along with Cameron and John Landau at Rodriquez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin Texas.

In a recent interview by Mia Galuppo in The Hollywood Reporter’s, Salazar (who is of Peruvian descent) talked about being aware of the star-making impact a movie like Alita can have, “I’m always grateful to be hired, especially as a Latin woman in the business.” She added, “And I’m always grateful when the most essential part of my character isn’t that she is Latin.”

While Miss Bala and Alita Battle Angel are movies for action and Sci-Fi movie fans, both have particular appeal to the under served Latino audience, (which makes up 25% of the movie going audience according to the MPAA) the industry’s most loyal and fastest growing young demographics.  

2017 and 2018 demonstrated that diversity sells tickets with such multi-cultural and multi-ethnic films as Coco, Crazy Rich Asians and Black Panther which smashed box office records, not only domestically but also worldwide. On the other end of the spectrum, just two of 2017’s top 100 grossing films featured Latino actors in lead roles

According to USC’s Annenberg inclusion imitative annual report on female and minority film representation. None of 2018’s top 100 films featured a Latina actress in a lead role.

In a just broadcast NPR interview Rodriquez remarked on her trailblazing lead role in Miss Bala,  “ It’s about an ordinary woman who becomes an extraordinary woman and really solidifies her power and finds her strength. If this film is a success, they [the Studios] will make more.”

These two new films arrive hot on the heels of the ten Oscar nominations for Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma including Best actress Yalitza Aparicio and Best Supporting actress Marina de Tavira.

With Roma leading the way forward, we will have to wait and see if Miss Bala and Alita: Battle Angel mark a new cinematic era for complex fully realized Latina lead roles and the opportunity for Latina actresses to portray them in major motion pictures.

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