The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA) has announced the winners of their inaugural Latino Entertainment Film Awards.
In its inaugural year, Netflix’s “Roma” won nine awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron. Cuaron won a total of five prizes as a producer, director, screenwriter, co-film editor, and foreign language feature. Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” was the next big winner with three awards for Production & Set Design, Costumes, and Hair & Makeup.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ “A Star is Born” and Annapurna Pictures’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” both picked up a pair of wins. Co-writer and director Bradley Cooper won Best Actor in a Leading Role while his co-star Lady Gaga shared the Best Song Written for a Motion Picture prize with fellow songwriters Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt. Barry Jenkins’ film won awards for Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Regina King.
Mahershala Ali took the Supporting Actor prize for his work in Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” while “Crazy Rich Asians” rounded out the acting prizes with a win for Best Ensemble Casting, which was awarded to the Casting Director Terri Taylor.
Along with the 23 competitive categories listed below, LEJA has also honored four Latino individuals in the film industry and called out the deficiency of another person of prominence in dealing with Latino issues.
Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno is the recipient of LEJA’s first-ever “Lifetime Achievement Award,” which will now be known as the “Rita Moreno Lifetime Achievement Award.” Best known for her Oscar-winning role in the 1961 musical “West Side Story,” Moreno has entertained moviegoers and TV watchers for the last seven decades. Along with her breakout Oscar performance in as Anita in “West Side Story,” Moreno went on to win a Grammy (1972), Tony (1975) and Emmy (1977), which makes her only one of 15 individuals to win all four major entertainment awards. Most recently, she has starred on the hit Netflix reboot of “One Day at a Time” and was cast in the upcoming remake of “West Side Story” from director Steven Spielberg.
Winning the first LEJA “Latino Activism Award” is American-Honduran actress America Ferrera. Ferrera made her film debut in the 2002 dramedy “Real Women Have Curves” and became a household name as the titular character on the popular TV series “Ugly Betty.” Aside from her work in Hollywood, Ferrera has been active in Voto Latino, an organization that encourages young Latinos to vote and be politically aware. In 2018, she spoke at the Families Belong Together protest, a series of protests across the U.S. that were formed to push back against the Trump Administration’s family separation policy. Last year, she became a founding member of the Time’s Up legal defense fund, which has raised more than $22 million to support victims of sexual violence.
LEJA’s first “Breakout Award” goes to Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio for her lead role in Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 drama “Roma.” In the film, Aparicio plays Cleo, a fictional version of the nanny who helped raise Cuarón and his siblings in Mexico City in the 1970s. Aparicio is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico. Her parents are of indigenous origin (Mixtec and Triqui). “Roma” is her acting debut.
LEJA’s first “Spotlight Award” goes to Puerto Rican actor and Oscar-nominated songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda. Along with his Golden Globe-nominated supporting role last year in the sequel “Mary Poppins Returns,” Miranda raised millions of dollars for Puerto Rico to help rebuild after the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. He is currently reprising his role as U.S. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in his hit Broadway show “Hamilton” – this time in Puerto Rico where he is raising more funds.
Finally, LEJA names its first recipient of the “Muy Mal Award” (Spanish for “Very Bad”) – a dishonor given to an individual for vilifying and stigmatizing the Latino community. Although in the future this award is more likely to go to someone in Hollywood for creating tired Latino stereotypes in movies, the first award goes to current U.S. President and former TV reality show star Donald J. Trump. In 2018, Trump and his administration implemented the “zero tolerance” family separation policy on undocumented immigrants coming across the U.S./Mexico border. According to the federal government, more than 3,000 undocumented children were separated from their families and placed in shelters or foster care. In addition to his cruel policy, Trump continues to stoke fear about undocumented immigrants (mainly Latino and Muslim) and continues to divide the country with his toxic and racist rhetoric and demand for a wall on the southern border.
The nominees and winners of the Latino Entertainment Film Awards are:
Best Picture of the Year
Best Achievement in Directing
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Original Screenplay
Best Ensemble Casting
Best Production & Set Design
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Editing
Best Hair & Makeup
Best Sound
Best Visual Effects
Best Music
Best Song Written for a Motion Picture
Best Animated Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Stunts
Best Voice or Motion Capture Performance
The Rita Moreno Lifetime Achievement Award: Rita Moreno
Latino Activism Award: America Ferrera
The LEJA Breakout Award: Yalitza Aparicio
The LEJA Muy Mal Award: Donald J. Trump
The LEJA Spotlight Award: Lin-Manuel Miranda
About Latino Entertainment Journalists Association:
The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA) is committed to developing and celebrating Latino voices among all areas and backgrounds of the entertainment industry. Founded in 2018, LEJA provides a much-needed opportunity for writers from the United States to have their works amplified and heard in the areas of film, television, music, theatre, and the arts. Accepting of all backgrounds and identities, LEJA embraces anyone who identifies as Latino, Latina, Latinx, Hispanic, Afro-Latino, Afro-Latina, Latin@, Spanish, or any inclusive and progressive description that champions and accelerates the voices of our culture from around the world.
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