While the Oscars may all have flubbed its chance to honor a wealth of Latino talent, the upcoming Miami Film Festival will once again be hosting a celebration of Variety‘s “10 Latinxs to Watch.” The list of honorees, which last year included the likes of Gigi Saul Guerrero (director of Culture Shock) and actors like Daniel Zovatto (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels) is again full of names that are about to have a great 2020 and represent the wealth of talent from all over the continent. “Even a quick look at the lineup of this year’s 10 Latinxs to Watch proves the point that industry pros already know: Latinx talent is enlivening and enriching global entertainment from theater to music to film and television,” said Steven Gaydos, executive vice president of global content of Variety.
Honored this year are a number of actors as well as some behind-the-scenes creators. Some names you may recognize: there’s Mexican actress Melissa Barrera, who’ll be making the jump from the small screen in Vida to the big screen with the film adaptation of In the Heights, Dominican American actor Angel Bismark Curiel, best known as Lil Papi from Pose, as well as Riverdale‘s Camila Mendes, who most recently was in the border-set thriller Coyote Lake. And then there are others whose names you’ll be sure to know by the end of the year. These include Julissa Calderon, who’ll be soon seen in Netflix’s Gentefied and Chilean actress Mariana di Girolamo, who’s the leading lady in Pablo Larraín’s reggeaton musical Ema.
Not one to merely focus on actors alone, the list also includes Brazilian cinematographer Carolina Costa who worked on Hala and Diego Luna’s latest film Wander Darkly; Chilean writer director Gonzalo Maza, who’s best known for co-writing A Fantastic Woman and directing This is Christina; and D.C.-born Cesar Mazariegos, who’s written for The Simpsons and created the stoner comedy High & Mighty. And in a push to move beyond film and television, the list is rounded out by two Puerto Ricans: music producer Tainy and artist-singer-dancer Chesca. All ten honorees will be feted at this year’s Miami Film Festival and get their own write ups in an upcoming March issue of Variety.
