The National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts is proud to present the 2018 Raul Julia Award for Excellence to ROBERT RODRIGUEZ’S EL REY NETWORK, in celebration of their five-year anniversary, and the 2018 Horizon Awards to actor DIEGO TINOCO (On My Block) and singer, songwriter and actress ERIKA ENDER (Despacito) at this year’s NOCHE DE GALA on Tuesday, September 11, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. Additionally, NHFA will present the Spotlight Award to ISAAC LEE and actress ALANNA UBACH (Coco, Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce) and the LATIN GRAMMY CULTURAL FOUNDATION will receive Leadership Awards.
OSCAR EMMANUEL FABELA, currently in his third and final year of the Acting MFA Program at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, has been selected to speak on behalf of the 2018 Scholarship recipients. The Noche de Gala dinner, underwritten by Ford Motor Company and co-underwritten by Charter Communications, will feature guest speakers Congressman TONY CARDENAS, Congresswoman LINDA SANCHEZ, and Commissioner JESSICA ROSENWORCEL, as well as a special performance by Horizon Award recipient, Erika Ender.
“The Raul Julia Award for Excellence acknowledges the person or institution who is making a critical difference for Latinos in media and/or entertainment,” said Felix Sanchez, NHFA Chairman, and Co-Founder. “We celebrate El Rey’s fifth anniversary, a major milestone for a national television network established to bring diverse and inclusive programming to America’s next generation of viewers.”
“At Ford Motor Company, we are proud of our commitment to the arts and education,” said Ford Fund President Jim Vella. “Today we are delighted to continue making students’ dreams a reality by our support to two of our longstanding partners, NHFA and the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation. Ford has awarded more than one million dollars for students’ scholarships to NHFA during our two decades of partnership, and more than 6,000 music students have benefitted by Ford’s donation of over $300,000 in musical instruments to the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation.”
Each year the NHFA has hosted a “PITCH DC” session, providing the opportunity for students and future filmmakers to present their best ideas to various industry and network executives. The panel discussion, “Imagining Coco and Beyond,” will address the Orange Economy and how television and film production can serve as an economic engine to depressed areas of Latin America while elevating the profile of Latinos in the US and worldwide. Just as studios have shown great interest in the Chinese entertainment market, NHFA believes there are also countless opportunities for the film industry among the one billion Latinos in the U.S. and Latin America.
