Clockwise from top left: Luis Gerardo Méndez, Eiza González, Janicza Bravo, Fernando Epstein, Nicolás Wong, Lucila Moctezuma, Wagner Moura, and Emilie Lesclaux.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced today the names of 395 film professionals that have been invited as new members for 2021, which includes several U.S. Latinx and Latin American talent.
In the acting category, the Academy has invited Mexican actors Eiza González (I Care a Lot, Baby Driver), and Luis Gerardo Méndez (Charlie’s Angels, Murder Mystery), Brazilian actor-director Wagner Moura (Sergio, Wasp Network) and Mexican-American actor Jesse Borrego (Colombiana, Con Air). Three Latin American directors of photography have been invited in the cinematographers category: Manuel Alberto Claro (Hope, Melancholia) and Pablo Valdés (The Mole Agent, Los Reyes) from Chile, and Peruvian-born Nicolás Wong (La Llorona, Muñecas rusas) from Costa Rica.
Six Latin American producers were included in the Academy’s list: Paula Barreto (João, o Maestro, Reaching for the Moon), Fabiano Gullane (The Traitor, Querô: A Damned Report), Andrea Barata Ribeiro (Xingu, City of God) and Emilie Lesclaux (Bacurau, Aquarius) from Brazil, and Fernando Epstein (Monos, Whisky) and Inna Payán (The Golden Dream, Lucia Lucia) from Mexico.
Three Latin American costume designers were also invited to the Academy: Beatriz de Benedetto (The Two Popes, The Motorcycle Diaries) from Argentina, Muriel Parra (A Fantastic Woman, Neruda) from Chile, and Catherine Rodríguez (Birds of Passage, Embrace of the Serpent) from Colombia.
Other invited members include Panamanian-American directors Janicza Bravo (Zola, Lemon) and Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah, Newlyweeds), Brazilian cinematographer João Atala (The Edge of Democracy, The Daily Death), Mexican-American producer and funder Lucila Moctezuma (Living Los Sures, The New Americans), Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz (The Orphan, Tatuapé Mahal Tower), Latinx producers Darlene Caamaño Loquet and Lorenza Muñoz, Latinx executive Johanna Fuentes.
Rounding up this year’s Latin American and U.S. Latinx talent are Mexican animator Rita Basulto, Mexican sound designers Jaime Baksht (Sound of Metal, I’m No Longer Here), Carlos Cortés (Sound of Metal, Our Time), Michelle Couttolenc (Sound of Metal, I’m No Longer Here) and Isabel Muñoz (Miss Bala, Backyard (El traspatio), Brazilian editor Karen Akerman (The Trial, Simonal – Nobody Knows the Hard I Had), Brazilian hair and makeup artist Anna Van Steen (Bingo – The King of the Mornings, City of God) and Latinx programmer and executive director of the New York Film Festival, Eugene Hernández.
