Last Friday, January 31, marked the last day of Vanessa Erazo as film editor at the New York-based Latinx news website Remezcla. In her tenure in this position, Vanessa created a vital platform for both U.S. Latinx and Latin American cinema in this country, championing numerous films and filmmakers, and generating critical content for often overlooked work.
Vanessa arrived to her position in 2013, having left a job in the medical field to take a big leap and build the film section at Remezcla. She was the driving force behind the section and under her leadership the site became a leading publication for Latinx/Latin American cinema and television. Remezcla became the only English-language Latinx outlet to be credentialed to cover numerous film festivals including Sundance, Toronto, New York, Los Cabos, Panama, among many others, as well as the Oscars for the past two years, and it became a tomatometer-approved publication on RottenTomatoes.
In these days of click bait and poor reporting, Vanessa maintained the integrity of the content, and pulled together a wonderful group of collaborators including Manuel Betancourt, Carlos Aguilar, Mónica Castillo, Kristen Lopez, Kiko Martinez, Andrew Vargas, Maria Christina Villaseñor, among many others. In 2016, Vanessa was selected by IndieWire as one of the "20 Latin Americans Making a Difference for American Independent Film Today."
Vanessa was a close friend of Cinema Tropical, having served as a juror for Cinema Tropical Awards, often covering our films and series, and participating as a close advisor for numerous projects and initiatives.
We salute Vanessa and the terrific work she did throughout these years, and wish her all the best of luck in her new professional endeavor as content analyst at Netflix in the Bay Area. We welcome Manuel Betancourt as the new film editor at Remezcla. We know that Manuel will be able to keep and expand Vanessa's legacy, and we look forward to working with him.
