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Filmarket Hub is the platform supporting Latinx feature films and scripted series in development. In a two-day virtual event, movie makers and creatives will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas in the Filmarket Hub’s first U.S. Hispanic Showcase.
From now until April 27, 2022, aspiring producers, writers, and directors can submit their high-quality stories to the new initiative with the opportunity to secure 1:1 meetings and partnerships with top-tier companies in the entertainment industry, including executives from BTF Media, El Estudio, Exile Content Studio, Gaumont, Pantaya and The Mediapro Studio.
Once the submission period ends, selected projects will make it to the online event, set to be held on the 2nd and the 3rd of June, with day one dedicated to featuring films and day two showcasing scripted series.
HOLA! USA had the opportunity to chat with Ligia María Storrs and Juan Pablo Arias about their experiences using the platform to catapult their stories. “I submit a script every year,” Arias told us. “Although the US Hispanics is a new platform, Filmarket Hub has done some other competitions that I have been a part of.”
Juan Pablo is a Chilean director, screenwriter, and producer. He is also a Fulbright Scholarship Award recipient and the 2020 HBO Access Directing Fellowship winner in the United States. His project KARUKINKA was selected in the most recent Latam Online Pitchbox.
“One of my features was a horror film, and I got to meet around ten different companies and talk to them about my project and send it to them. The year before, I was part of a Latin American event for four films for the entire region,” he explains, referring to his experience. “I’m looking forward to submitting this year for the US Hispanics. I have my production company in Chile. I have a production company here in the US, and I’m also working with other producers.”
According to Arias, platforms like these are crucial for aspiring writers and directors and experienced filmmakers who need more immense opportunities or budgets. “It makes a big difference, especially when you’re an up-and-coming artist,” Juan Pablo assures. “The the industry that we work on, it’s tough to get into. It is a very close circle. It is not just political but also because you need to prove yourself a lot before you can be offered a project. So the people that work the most are the people that have created something that has proven to work.”
“Your content could be great. You could be a great filmmaker, a great producer, a great writer, a great director, but unless you’re able to talk to them or hand them the material, it’s tough to break through,” he notes.
“So that’s why I think that Filmarket Hub has become so important for the industry because they create the opportunities to get in front of the people looking for content.”
Ligia María Storrs, a Latina writer, and director based in Orange, California, told HOLA! USA that the platform is everything she and her husband could have dreamed of. “The Filmarket Hub has been a blessing in our life,” the Colombian creator says. “What is difficult for many people, for my husband, is the opportunity to see face to face the people that could make the decision. This platform facilitates this encounter between the creative and the production companies.”
More information about the U.S. Hispanic Showcase and the submission process is available at: https://www.filmarkethub.com/calls/ushispanic-showcase.