Canela Media Announces 2022 Latin Heritage Film Challenge Winners; Debuts 2021 Winner’s Film on Canela.TV

Between Borders/Entres Fronteras To Make Exclusive Debut on Canela.TV on October 4th

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Canela Media, an industry-leading, minority-owned digital media technology company, today announced the winners of its 2022 Latin Heritage Film Challenge, in partnership with Audpop. Additionally, the winner’s film of the 2021 Challenge debuts on Canela.TV starting today, October 4th, as part of Canela Media’s Hispanic Heritage Month programming. In-keeping with Canela Media’s mission to elevate the voices of Latino creators and artists to drive more representation in the media, the Latin Heritage Film Challenge is a vehicle to provide a platform to aspiring Latino filmmakers.

During the Film Challenge, now in its second year, Latin filmmakers were invited to submit short and long form documentaries and fiction films to AudPop’s Latin Heritage Film Challenge. Submitted films were juried by AudPop staff and Canela.TV executives. Finalists were judged by an industry jury panel, with the top 30 films then voted on by the global audience and the finalist jury.

The 2021 winner, Julián Núńez’s film Between Borders/Entre Fronteras is a story about a group of immigrants and their journey to the United States. The film follows three main characters who are involved in the immigration process in different ways. As the group of immigrants travel to the border, they encounter obstacles that will forever change their lives. The production is a collaboration of aspiring filmmakers, actors, and crew members from both sides of the border including Las Cruces, El Paso, Juarez, and Mexico City. Between Borders/Entres Fronteras was written and directed by Julián Núńez. The film was produced by El Paso Filmmakers.

This year’s Latin Heritage Film Challenge winners, which are featured in the Award-Winning Shorts collection on the Canela.TV app are:
Winner: La Nuera de Don Filemon:
Don Filemón will have to get used to living with Remigia, his daughter-in-law, who can’t stand him, until she discovers something in Don Filemón that makes her love him.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Directors: Gabriel Guzmán S.
Starring: René G. Sonia Couoh Luis Felipe Ibarra Ruben Gonzalez Garza Edna Cortes

2nd Place: Donde Esta El Gober:
Political satire that explores the world of the most secret spy in all of Mexico. Only he can save them from the greatest evil.
Genres: Action Adventure Comedy
Directors: Cabe Tejeda
Starring: Mark Duarte Anna Cepinska Enoch Leano

3rd Place: El Árbol:
Doña Lucha discovers a magical tree from which loaves of bread “bloom” instead of fruit. Driven by her greed, she begins to sell the bread.
Genres: Fantasy Drama Comedy
Directors: Miguel Valdez-López
Starring: Rosa Maria Rojas Carlos Gueta David Colorado Jesus Flowers Esteban Ibarra Rebecca Caves Luis Rodríguez Martínez

4th Place: Revolucionarios:
Panchito, a 12-year-old boy, takes courage after accidentally arriving dressed as a Revolutionary at his elementary school.
Genres: Comedy
Directors: Cabe Tejeda
Starring: Andre Montano Laura Galindo Diego Guzmán

5th Place: El Nuevo Hombre Invisible:
Shunned by society, a lonely man develops an ability: to become literally invisible and free to take advantage of this talent.
Genres: Drama Fantasy Comedy
Directors: Gabriel Guzmán S.
Starring: Victor Hernández Patrick Saragossa Mario Zaragoza Guillermo Callahan Paloma Petra Patricia White Andul Zambrano David Plant

“We are so thrilled to bring to market this film challenge for the second year in a row and provide a platform for these brilliant aspiring filmmakers!” said Jerry Leo, Chief Content Officer at Canela Media. “Between Borders is an incredibly moving piece and we are so honored to play a role in bringing it to our audience. The films recognized this year are equally as incredible and will be live on Canela.TV in our Award-Winning Shorts collection!”

“AudPop is thrilled to connect Julián to Canela to make emerging filmmakers’ dreams come true,” said Paige Williams, CEO & Founder at AudPop. “Through our social impact video submissions platform and 75K global diverse filmmakers, Canela discovered Julián’s short film and greenlit his pilot. Working with AudPop ensures that great companies like Canela connect to amazing filmmakers like Julián. We love our work of connecting talent to opportunities like this with Canela!”

Canela.TV is the popular video platform from Canela Media, an industry-leading female and Latina-owned digital media company. Canela.TV is available in the U.S., Mexico and Colombia, and has 28 million unique users. For additional information on Canela.TV please visit: https://www.canela.tv/

About Canela Media
Canela Media is a leading digital media technology company offering brands a complete ecosystem to connect with multicultural audiences starting with its free streaming platform service, Canela.TV, which enriches the new generation of U.S. Latinos with free access to unique, culturally relevant content. In addition to TV content, Canela Music features a unique blend of Latin music programming, featuring various genres from Latin Pop, Regional Mexican, Classics, Romantic, and more.

Canela Media reaches more than 50 million unique Hispanics across its 180+ premium Spanish-language sites. Combined with the company’s proprietary data, Canela Media possesses in-depth knowledge and understanding of how to establish meaningful and culturally relevant connections with the new mainstream – U.S. and Latam Hispanics.

Headquartered in New York, Canela Media is ranked as the fourth largest Hispanic ad-focused company and the only female- and minority-owned certified digital company. For more information please visit http://www.CanelaMedia.com.

About AudPop:
AudPop is a social impact video platform connecting Creators, businesses, and audiences globally. We believe that real stories can change the world. That’s why we connect Creators with brands and audiences through the creation, curation, and promotion of authentic video content. AudPop powers turn-key video submissions and video production through connecting mission- driven brands and creators/filmmakers. Brands use AudPop to crowd-source addictive, gorgeous video content at scale from our award-winning diverse global filmmaker collective and to get the exact video that they need. AudPop has worked with many brands including Verizon, Southwest Air, GoDaddy, Hilton Worldwide, and DELL. AudPop supports a community of 75K global filmmakers and creators, has 14K short films on its platform, and has operated over 500 online film festivals, video contests, and film challenges awarding over $10M in cash and prizes to global diverse creators. Founded in 2013, AudPop is committed to facilitating collaboration and creating meaningful change.

Media Contact

Jennifer Fugel, Briz Media Group, 1 8456574202, jennifer@brizmediagroup.com

SOURCE Canela Media