|
Edward James Olmos
Actor, producer, director and community activist Edward James Olmos was born and raised in East Los Angeles. A veteran of the theater, he earned a Tony nomination for his mesmerizing performance in the 1978 drama/musical Zoot Suit. He reprised the role for a feature film in 1981, and went on that year to star in Wolfen. He followed these performances with pivotal roles in Ridley Scott’s landmark Blade Runner and Robert M. Young’s acclaimed The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez. Olmos’ feature film credits also include Selena, Mi Familia/My Family and American Me, which he also directed. His extensive television work includes HBO’s The Burning Season, Showtime’s In the Time of Butterflies, the ABC miniseries Dead Man’s Walk and the documentary The Unfinished Journey, directed by Steven Spielberg. Most recently, Olmos starred for two seasons in the acclaimed PBS series American Family.
Throughout his extensive career, Olmos has received numerous accolades, including an LA Drama Circle Award, an Emmy (in addition to three nominations) and two Golden Globe Awards. In 1988, he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Jaime Escalante, the dedicated, real-life math teacher in Stand and Deliver, which he also produced. Most recently, he was awarded the PASS award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for producing the domestic-violence documentary It Ain’t Love.
Olmos is currently a United States Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. He is also a national spokesperson for the following organizations: Southwest Voter Registration Project, where he helps the Latino Community in its pursuit of citizenship and voter registration; the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation; and the AIDS Awareness Foundation. He also serves on the boards of Recruiting New Teachers, the Twentieth Century Fund, UCLA School of Film and Theater, UCLA Mentoring Program, Miami Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, National Council on Adoption, Children’s Action Network, Hollywood Supports and OneNetNow.com.
Prior to the start of filming season two of Battlestar Galactica Edward James Olmos received a 2004 Latin Business Spirit Award, a 2004 Image Award, a 2004 Hugo Award for Best Actor on Battlestar Galactica, a 2004 Family Television Award and was nominated for a SYFY Genre Award for Best Actor on Battlestar Galactica. He then went on to direct the HBO Film, “Walkout” in 2005, which earned him an Alma Award for Best Director.
He was presented with an Outstanding Achievement Award in Education and Latino Literary at the Inaugural of the National Council of Space Directors, where it was also announced that the council had formed the Edward James Olmos Latino Literacy Scholarship Fund. In addition, he presented the 2nd annual Edward James Olmos Award for Advocacy in Amputation Prevention.
Marlene Dermer
Marlene L. Dermer is the Executive Director, Programmer and Member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF.) The Festival, which she also co-founded, has grown from 42 films during its first edition in 1997 and an overall attendance of 5,000 people, to last year’s Festival, which exceeded 27,000 and showcased 130 films (features, documentaries, and shorts), 10 panels, workshops and secured major corporate sponsorship from nationally recognized organizations. LALIFF celebrates its 10th edition in October 2006.
Dermer’s desire to showcase Latino talent led her to create a venue for Latin films in Los Angeles. She has seen her vision unfold by using the film medium as a vehicle to bringing to light the richness and diversity of the Latino culture and artistry. LALIFF started in 1996, when the City of Los Angeles first looked into the possibility of having an official Latino film festival that catered to the cultural needs of its rapidly growing Latino community. Dermer wrote the original proposal to respond to the request by the City of LA. During the development process, Dermer was asked by the City’s Latino Committee to meet with actor/activist Edward James Olmos to join forces on the new Latino festival.
When Dermer and Olmos met, they made an instant connection in terms of vision and what they wanted to accomplish with the project. They started to work together during the weekends, as she was still working full time at Paramount Pictures, to work on the first ever Latino film festival in the city. LALIFF was then co-founded by Dermer, George Hernandez and Olmos, with the first festival starting small as part of the 1997 Latino Heritage Month celebration in Los Angeles, showing 42 films during five days.
LALIFF soon developed its own identity, and with the constant support from film studios and sponsors, the festival grew quickly into a high-profile event with a strong presence in the Hollywood community. In 2003, the seventh edition of LALIFF showcased 147 films (features, documentaries, and shorts), offered panels, and workshops it included the first Latino Screenwriter’s Lab for Ibero-American participants, and a writer’s workshop for 26 participants, selected from among more than 300 applications from all over the US. The Festival had an overall attendance in excess of 27,000. Expanded to 16 days, LALIFF became the longest international film festival in the world. In 2005, LALIFF enjoyed an audience in excess of 20,000.
During Dermer’s tenure at LALIFF, she has developed and implemented many programs that have nourish future Latino talent and positively impacted the Los Angeles Latino community such as the Latino Writers Workshop; Youth Program, which promotes literacy and further education among elementary to high school and filmmaking among high school to college students; a Writing Competition, for emerging filmmakers and the fundamentals of storytelling in a cinematic medium and the Latino Screenwriters Lab, which offers the opportunity to a new screenwriters or experienced filmmakers to have his/her screenplay develop, produced and distributed by a Hollywood company.
Under her leadership, the festival also enjoyed an important milestone in 2005 when the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science (Oscars®) recognized LALIFF as a qualifying festival for the Academy’s Short Film Category Award. Furthermore, with Dermer’s help, the Academy established the LALIFF Collection at the Academy’s Film Archive, which is open to students, educators and the general public.
Dermer’s vision to make LALIFF a year-round organization led to the announcement in 2006 that LALIFF would become the Latino International Film Institute, LIFI. As a non-profit organization, LIFI will expand LALIFF’s educational programs and industry labs as well as to mentor, develop and support Latino filmmakers in the United States and international.
Prior to her current position with LALIFF, Dermer was also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting, the only non-profit organization in the Latino producing community funded by the Federal Government, for five years. After working together with Olmos in creating LALIFF, Olmos persuaded Dermer to leave the job at Paramount Pictures (1996-98) and to be in charge of running the this fund and in turn create Latino Public Broadcasting, an organization that they both co-founded. She served as the Executive Director for five years and still serves on its Board of Directors.
During her tenure, LPB awarded grants to more than 50 projects and was actively involved in the production of joint projects with the National Minority Consortia. Under her leadership at LPB, several of the projects won prestigious awards, such as “Señorita Extraviada”, 2002 Sundance Winner; “Blue Diner”, an Alma Award Winner for Outstanding Independent Motion Picture in 2002, and “Every Child is Born a Poet”. Other films produced under Dermer’s leadership at LPB include: Viones Latino Art & Culture, series for PBS by Hector Galan; Matters of Race; Accordions Dreams, Hector Galan; Senior Year; Limon a Life Beyond Words; Fotonovelas, Carlos Avila The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez; Race is the Place; Stealing Home; La Boda, and Our House in Havana.
Founded in the winter of 1998 as an interim organization, the Latino Public Broadcasting Project’s mission was to provide a voice to the diverse Latino community throughout the United States with an equitable and accessible funding and distribution mechanism to present Latino programs on public broadcasting stations.
Under Dermer’s leadership, the LPB was awarded Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s contract and became a non-profit organization established to represent the Latino community nationally. At the time of her departure, LPB presented over 28 hours partly funded by them on PBS. Latino Public Broadcasting became the only non-profit organization for the Latino producing community funded by the Federal Government.
As thefounding Executive Director, Marlene was responsible to the Board of Directors for effectively running the affairs of the organization. With the participation and oversight of the Board, she directed the staff, programs, and activities of the organization. She created the by-laws, procedures and programs. Dermer also created with her designers the brand including an award winning logo for LPB.
As the Executive Director of LPB, she was also responsible for implementing board policies; advising the Board regarding strategic direction and organizational development; fundraising; and overseeing day-to-day operations, including staff activities, budgeting, financial planning, and programs serving artists. In addition, Dermer and Olmos were the principal public face for the organization and represented LPB in multiple local and national venues articulating the organization’s vision and needs on the national and local level.
Dermer says, “Latino Public Broadcasting was born from the ashes of another organization and took flight into the future in the light of its own flames. Thanks to the passion and hard work of our producers and talent. It was hard in the beginning. The community’s trust had been lost and it seemed that instead of getting people to support you, sometimes you felt that they were waiting for you to fail. But we persevered with our desire to do right, stand by our principles and accomplish something for the community that we could all be proud.”
Dermer’s background also includes filmmaking and producing. From 1996 to 1998, Dermer worked as Director of Foreign Adaptation at Paramount Pictures. She supervised the production of delivery of scripts, translations and subtitles for the studio feature films to be released in Latin America. Paramount can credit her with having the most success ever in opening dates with Spanish titles. She left in December of 1998 to start the Latino Public Broadcasting.
Dermer’s experience in filmmaking and festival programming has made a key player when other international film festivals, cultural and film institutions around the world look to promote and showcase Latino films. She programmed in 1995 for the Shanghai International Film Festival the Latino Film Program the largest presentation of Latin films ever screened in China, one of which won the Jury Prize Award in 1995. She also was a participant in the first ever U.S. China Film Industry Conference in Shanghai. She served on their Advisory Board for two years.
Dermer lent her expertise to the Los Angeles Cuban Cultural Festival, which epitomizes the richness of Cuban culture. This civic festival founded to celebrate Cuban culture in Los Angeles has seen itself grow from 3,000 attendees in its first year, to 30,000 visitors. With a wide range of programs available, Dermer has assisted in the selection of its art, music and literature.
Besides films, Dermer’s other passions are the arts, books and music. She has traveled the globe to personally get involved in the promotion and preservation of international archeological treasures, art and literary works. Over the past 21 years, she has also campaigned for such causes as the Cancer Society, Green Peace, World Peace and AIDS. While living in New Orleans she was part of the Arts Community and has been a visible entity with the Cultural Affairs Department in Los Angeles. Of course as part of her role as the Executive Director and Programmer of LALIFF, Dermer is constantly traveling around the world to be part of many international film festivals and to scout new and upcoming Latino talent to showcase every year at LALIFF.
Marlene was born in Peru, but she considers herself to be a citizen of the world. She has lived in New Orleans, Spain and now in Los Angeles. She has a son, William who resides in New Orleans.
Julio Bove
Julio worked for and was mentored by well-known producers with in-house deals at Warner Brothers. He was later chosen during his Master’s Program to attend the highly demanding and select Paramount Pictures Internship Program, which exposed him to most high rank meeting and the rigorous demands under which studio executives work.
In May 2000, Julio formed his own independent Film and TV Production company, Bosco Entertainment, in Los Angeles. He currently writes and produces for Television and Film.
At Bosco Entertainment, he strives for quality material and works with new as well as established talent in the USA, Italy, Spain, Canada, United Kingdom and Argentina. His company now has several projects in different stages of production, development, attachments and financing, among them:
“Unrest” Writer/Dir/Prod: Jason Todd Ipson. Prod: Julio Bove. Completed in 2006. In co-production with Asgaard Entertainment. Low budget. Horror/Medical thriller. Fully financed. Opened theatrically November 17, 2006 – Lionsgate – 500 theatres, 35 top North American markets; on DVD March 20th, 2007.
“Pots and Pans (Verano Amargo)” Writers: Fabiana Medici and Julio Bove, Dir: Juan Carlos Desanzo, Prod: Julio Bove. Lead: Federico Luppi, Gastón Pauls. Prep: early 2007. Shoot: mid 2007 in Argentina. In co-production between Argentina (Cinema Digital) and Spain (Urban Films). Medium budget. Slice-of-Life Drama. Fully financed.
Member of the Executive Committee of LALIFF (Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival)
Member of EGEDA (Entidad de Gestiones de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales)
Adolfo V. Nodal
Adolfo V. Nodal was born in Guaos, Cuba on March 6, 1950. Mr. Nodal immigrated to the Miami Florida with his family in September 1957. He was raised in Miami where he graduated from Miami-Dade Junior College with an Associate of Arts degree in Journalism & Photography in 1970. Mr. Nodal received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida in 1972. He was awarded a Masters of Arts degree in Contemporary Art by California State University at San Francisco. He was awarded a certificate in Museum Management by The Art Museum Association Museum Management Institute in 1981.
Mr. Nodal has served as Executive Director of Contemporary arts institutions in Washington, DC. (Washington Project for the Arts,1978-83) Los Angeles, CA.(Otis Parsons School of Art Exhibition Center,1983-87) and New Orleans, Lousiana
(Contemporary Arts Center,1988). He worked in large and small arts institutions in San Francisco while he earned his Masters Degree there. He has served as trustee of several local and national arts institutions including American For The Arts, the National Assembly Of Local Arts Agencies (NALAA), The Urban Arts Federation, and as a founding Member of National Association of Artists Organizations LA Works, and LA Shares (Materials for the Arts).
Adolfo V. Nodal Held the position of General Manager of the City of Los Angeles’ Cultural Affairs Department from 1988-2001. He lead the department which regulates civic design, historic preservation, and arts funding and programs. He was responsible for cultural advocacy and planning for arts and culture in Los Angeles He is considered a national leader in the fields of multicultural arts development, arts administration, and support for Individual artists and all artistic disciplines. He established and developed the Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts with the help of the LA City Council. He achieved a comprehensive arts master-plan for LA in 1990. And a cultural heritage master-plan for the city in 1998. He completed a restoration of the City’s historic Art deco Neon and electric signs in the Wilshire, Hollywood and Downtown districts of the City. He developed a millennium arts celebration for Los Angeles and a national study of the public safety impact of the arts in the community as well as a report on the role of art in reducing graffiti vandalism He also initiated an emergency response cultural master-plan for the city which is yet to be completed.. Other achievements in his tenure as General Manager include a program to name city traffic squares to honor artists who have made significant contributions to the arts community such as the dedication of the Carmen Miranda and Carlos Gardel Squares in Hollywood. He also developed a civic recognition program to celebrate important arts administrators in the City of Los Angeles. Mr. Nodal encouraged arts and cultural organizations to include all of the Americas in their programming. He re-energized and developed a significant Cultural Grants for the arts
and Historic Preservation for the City of Los Angeles. He supervised an activebuilding program, produced a major Festival program and provided record amount of funding to the city’s mural program. He managed the plans for the total reorganization and physical upgrade of Barnsdall Art Park including the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House. He managed the city’s Watts Towers.
Throughout his career, Adolfo V. Nodal has championed individual artist and designers with special emphasis on experimental visual arts and theatre. He has organized countless programs to present this work in various cultural institutions in the United States. He is considered a national expert on Public Art, Historic Preservation and civic design. While at Cultural Affairs he assisted the Cultural Affairs and Cultural Heritage Commissions in their deliberations regarding the regulation of Civic Design, Architecture, Historic Landmark Status. Public Art, and Street Lighting in the City of LA.
Mr. Nodal has provided encouragement to and support to artists and arts institutions at all stages of development from homeless arts organizations to the City’s established institutions. He is multidisciplinary in his support of art, believing in the power of all the disciplines of culture as well as entertainment. His work in the arts has benefited countless American artists and institutions as well as audiences and communities throughout the region. He has provided leadership on linking the arts to other important civic issues such as education, public safety, community development, tourism, public health and community empowerment.
Mr. Nodal has received numerous awards and honors including Washingtonian Of The Year (1981), The Mayor’s Art Award, Washington DC (1981), A Presidential Citation for Community Service HUD (1987), The Order of the Southern Cross by the Government of Brazil (2000)
Currently Mr. Nodal is President of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commision. He is also Project General Manager for the Annenberg Foundation/Farmlab LLC where he is overseeing the construction of a Major Public Art Projects in Los Angeles. He also works in the area of cultural development and political evolution of his native Cuba. He believes that Culture is one of the only bridges available to the Cuban People and has devoted a lot of effort throughout his career to supporting Latin American artists achieve a broader audiences. In 2004 Mr. Nodal established an exhibition service in the Town of San Pedro and opened a licensed company to provide Cultural, Humanitarian and Religious missions to Cuba. In 2004 he became president of the Cuba Culture Foundation a non profit organization in California.
Mr. Nodal Completed a book on the role of Public Art in the field of community development titled MacArthur Park: How The Arts Made A Difference in 1990 (Hennessey & Ingalls Press) In 2001 he completed a book project intended to be a definitive reference volume titled Memoria: Cuban Art of the 20th Century. (The California International Arts Foundation) He is preparing a book on the Historic Neon and Electric signs of Los Angeles. Adolfo V. Nodal is fluent in Spanish and English including public speaking.
Julio Bove attended and graduated with honors from the prestigious University of Southern California Film School and the Peter Stark Master’s Producing Program.
While at USC, Julio wrote, directed, and produced several student films, theater and TV projects: Return to Sender, High Tuber, The Tender Trap and All About Eve.
Julio worked for and was mentored by well-known producers with in-house deals at Warner Brothers. He was later chosen during his Master’s Program to attend the highly demanding and select Paramount Pictures Internship Program, which exposed him to most high rank meeting and the rigorous demands under which studio executives work.
In May 2000, Julio formed his own independent Film and TV Production company, Bosco Entertainment, in Los Angeles. He currently writes and produces for Television and Film.
At Bosco Entertainment, he strives for quality material and works with new as well as established talent in the USA, Italy, Spain, Canada, United Kingdom and Argentina. His company now has several projects in different stages of production, development, attachments and financing, among them:
“Unrest” Writer/Dir/Prod: Jason Todd Ipson. Prod: Julio Bove. Completed in 2006. In co-production with Asgaard Entertainment. Low budget. Horror/Medical thriller. Fully financed. Opened theatrically November 17, 2006 – Lionsgate – 500 theatres, 35 top North American markets; on DVD March 20th, 2007.
“Pots and Pans (Verano Amargo)” Writers: Fabiana Medici and Julio Bove, Dir: Juan Carlos Desanzo, Prod: Julio Bove. Lead: Federico Luppi, Gastón Pauls. Prep: early 2007. Shoot: mid 2007 in Argentina. In co-production between Argentina (Cinema Digital) and Spain (Urban Films). Medium budget. Slice-of-Life Drama. Fully financed.
Member of the Executive Committee of LALIFF (Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival)
Member of EGEDA (Entidad de Gestiones de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales)
Francisco Pinedo
Francisco Pinedo , known as “Cisco,” is the CEO and Founder of Cisco Brothers Corporation, an award-winning custom furniture manufacturer based in Los Angeles, California. Cisco, who moved with his family to South L.A. from Jalisco, Mexico when he was 13, first entered the furniture industry by working part-time in a Huntington Park upholstery shop during high school. In his early twenties, Francisco began making custom furniture in the garage of his South Central Los Angeles home. As his enterprise began to rapidly grow, he recruited his brothers, sister, and other family members to help him with the business. In a highly competitive, design-driven industry, Cisco Brothers quickly distinguished itself with its superior craftsmanship, cutting-edge style, and unparalleled value. Moreover, the intimate, family-like atmosphere of the company helped nurture uncommon client loyalty.
After the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Cisco decided to move his manufacturing company to the heart of South Central Los Angeles. Though this was viewed as a risky business decision, Cisco had resolved to play a role in revitalizing his ailing childhood neighborhood. The move proved to be a tremendous success as Cisco Brothers has since more than tripled in size. The company continues to grow at a meteoric pace and has been a critical component in the redevelopment of the neighborhood surrounding the factory.
Cisco’s accomplishments were soon recognized outside of the furniture industry, and the company has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, among other media outlets. Cisco Brothers was selected for the City of Los Angeles’ national marketing campaign, and Cisco himself has received numerous civic and business awards, including the prestigious Treasures of the City award by the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office.
Now recognized through the country and around the world as a leader in the upholstery industry, Cisco Brothers continues to devote resources to important projects outside the business world. Cisco Pinedo is a co-founder of META (Making Education The Answer), a non-profit organization that provides academic scholarships to Hispanic youth throughout Southern California. Meanwhile, Cisco Brothers continues to expand. Cisco also operates a gallery at ABC Home Furnishings in NYC, as well as other national retail outlets. Cisco Brothers has recently opened retail stores in the LA area including, La Brea, Pasadena and the LA Design Center in South Los Angeles – an 80,000+ square foot design community housing several furniture showrooms and an art gallery. The Design Center provides support and exposure for young designers in the South Central community and has hosted numerous civic and community events.
Cisco lives in Pasadena with his wife Alba, and three daughters.
Kirk Whisler
Kirk Whisler is the president of Western Publication Research, Inc., a corporation that includes Latino Print Network, a national advertising sales program representing over 550 Hispanic publications; WPR Publishing, a book publishing company; and Western Publication Research that does Hispanic readership studies and other research. From 1992 until 1996, Whisler served as publisher of MEXICO Events & Destinations Magazine. Between 1986 and 1992, Kirk was publisher of NEVADA Magazine and from 1977 to 1986 Kirk was publisher of SOMOS and CAMINOS Magazines.
The publications that Latino Print Network represents total over 17 million circulation, and are used by 54% of the Latino households in the U.S. on a weekly basis. Dozens of Fortune 500 corporations have placed their Hispanic advertising with Latino Print Network. Since its founding in 1983, WPR Publishing has been the leading publisher of Latino directories, publishing books like The Hispanic Marketing 101 Yearbook, The Hispanic Scholarship Directory, The Strengths of Hispanic Owned Publications Study, The National Hispanic Media Directory and The NAHP Media Kit & Resource Book. Kirk has authored or edited over 20 books on Hispanic marketing. Western Publication Research has completed more than 340 readership studies on Hispanic publications over the past 26 years. Kirk also serves as publisher and executive editor for the Hispanic Marketing 101 newsletter and podcast. Kirk admits he is addicted to podcast and the HM101 podcast has become the most popular Hispanic marketing podcast.
In 1982, Kirk was honored as the founding president of the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP)*. Kirk also serves on a variety of national and local boards including Latino Literacy Now*, the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival*, the National Latino Media Council and the Verified Audit Circulation’s Board of Governors. Kirk is also a member of the Advertising Research Foundation, National Association of Hispanic Journalists (founding member), National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and National Press Club, amongst other organizations.
The Latino Literacy Now organization, of which Edward James Olmos and Kirk co-founded in 1996, operates The Latino Book & Family Festivals, one of the largest Latino consumer trade show in the U.S. The Latino Book & Family Festival is currently held annually in four cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston. The organization also does the Latino Book Awards.
Kirk speaks at an average of 10 major Latino or media conferences each year. Further his research is quoted by several hundred media sources each year like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Ad Week and CNN.
Robert Young
Robert M. Young, one of our foremost independent filmmakers, has an award-winning body of work that includes classic documentaries and acclaimed feature films, such as Nothing But A Man, Alambrista!, Short Eyes, Rich Kids, One Trick Pony, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, Extremities, Dominick and Eugene, Triumph of the Spirit, and Caught.
Mr. Young’s numerous awards include: Cannes’ Camera d’Or, San Sebastian’s Golden Concha for Best Film, Cuba’s Golden Coral for Best Film, Venice’s Primo San Georgio and The City of Venice Prize, an Emmy, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Memorial Awards for Journalism and an Academy Award Nomination for Children of Fate: Life and Death in a Sicilian Family which also won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Mr. Young has also been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
One of his earliest documentaries, Secrets of the Reef was named by Time Magazine “one of the ten best films of the year.” And his film for CBS: Eskimo: Fight for Life, won an Emmy as Best Documentary of the year. As a writer/director/cameraman and associate producer for the acclaimed NBC White Paper series, he made Sit-In and Angola: Journey to a War. For the latter, he walked 400 miles behind Portuguese lines with Angolan rebels to film the first encounters of their war. Both films received the George Polk Memorial Award as well as being cited in a Peabody Award to NBC. The Angola film also received the Overseas Press Club Citation for Best Foreign Reporting of the year. Young’s next film, The Inferno portrayed slum life in Palermo, Sicily so powerfully that NBC declined to air it. In 1993, Young’s son Andrew and his daughter-in-law Susan Todd, incorporated the NBC film into their film Children of Fate: Life and Death in a Sicilian Family, for which they received an Academy Award Nomination. Father and son together received the Best Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Young has made numerous other prize-winning documentaries. Among them are, The Maze, In the World of Sharks and the National Geographic Specials, Man of the Serengeti, Bushmen of the Kalahari and The Great Apes. His first dramatic film for television, JT received a Peabody Award.
For his first narrative feature, Young co-wrote, co-produced and photographed Nothing But a Man, winning two major prizes at the Venice Film Festival, as well as making numerous ten best lists. Nothing But a Man, also distinguished by being Malcolm X’s favorite film, was elected to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1994. Young’s first fictional feature film as writer/director and cinematographer, Alambrista! about a young Mexican who illegally crosses into the United States, won the coveted Camera d’Or for Best First Feature at the Cannes Film Festival and Best Feature at the San Sebastian Film Festival. A Director’s cut of Alambrista! is currently being released through the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation.
Young also produced American Me with Edward James Olmos. He also produced and photographed The Plot Against Harry for which he received an Indie Spirit nomination for Best Picture as well as Best Cinematographer.
Young’s other features include: Talent for the Game, Saving Grace, We Are The Children, Roosters, and Showtime’s Slave of Dreams and Solomon and Sheba, both filmed on location in Morocco. He also directed several episodes of ABC’s Nothing Sacred. His next theatrical feature film was Caught .which received an Indie Spirit Nomination for Best Director. He has since directed a dramatic Imax film that is now in release: Panda: The China Adventure, set in China in 1936. He has recently directed for ITVS a fictional film True to the Game, written by a young African-American woman about life in Harlem. He also directed La Estrella, an hour episode for the program American Family.
He recently finished work on his latest feature, Human Error.