Filmmaker Magazine has included three Latinx filmmakers in its annual list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2022, which was announced few weeks ago: Gabriela Ortega, Jorge Sistos, and Walter Thompson-Hernández.
Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Ortega attended the University of Southern California to study acting. She wrote, produced and co-starred in the 2018 short film Un acto de rebeldía al día (A Rebellious Act a Day). In 2020 she directed the documentary short, Papi, which was shot entirely on an iPhone for $300, and was acquired by HBO. This year she premiered the short film Huella at the Sundance Film Festival, which she’s developing into a feature film to be shot next year. She also participated in the Disney Launchpad: Shorts Incubator program, which will release her Beautiful, on Disney+ next spring, and her feature film Morenita, which she wrote, co-directed and starred in, is in post-production.
Sistos was born and raised in Morelia, Mexico, and received an MFA in directing at New York University. His 2019 short, La oscuridad (The Darkness) screened at numerous film festivals including the International Critics’ Week at Cannes. He’s currently in the post-production of his most recent short, In Freedom. He will direct his debut feature project titled La ausencia (The Absence) in Mexico.
Thompson-Hernández was born and raised in Huntington Park, a suburban neighborhood of Los Angeles. He studied at University of Portland and received a Master’s degree in Latin American studies from Stanford. He has worked as a multimedia journalist working for different media outlets including The New York Times, VICE, and The Guardian. In 2021, he directed the short film If I Go Will They Miss Me, which won the U.S. Fictional Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Thompson-Hernández is currently finishing his debut feature film, which he shot in Brazil.
