Fernando Arciniegas co-founded Arsi Care Group in 1997, and currently serves as its Vice President with responsibility for the company’s day-to-day operations. Arsi Care Group specializes in homecare services for infants, children, and the elderly, with a special focus on providing high-caliber care at Miami’s top five-star hotels and multinational companies.
Fernando, who hails from Colombia, has been very involved in the South Florida Community, actively working with many community organizations, including the Hispanic Community Group, Daily Bread Food Bank, Alliance for Aging, Coalition on Hispanic Aging, Florida Council on Aging, Catholic Hospice, South Florida Case Management, and the South Florida Concierge Association. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Key Biscayne Chamber of Commerce for a number of years.
Fernando has a long standing relationship with the Colombia Project for Manos del Sur, serving as the Director for the past fifteen years. Manos del Sur focuses on the wellbeing, care, and education for young, underprivileged and orphan children.
A life-long, avid movie and theater aficionado, Fernando had long desired to become active in the independent and foreign film scene. As a way to combine his love for cinema with his strong desire to help young artists, he developed and founded Indie Pasión in 2016. Indie Pasion is the only, independent film festival in Miami, where young, Ibero-American film makers have a vehicle to showcase their work. In three short years, Indie Pasion, has grown to a four-day event that includes documentaries and original short and long-feature films. The fourth annual event is scheduled for April 2020
Is a Director, Screenwriter, Film and Television Producer. He has directed some of the most iconic movies and television series in Colombia in recent years.
He studied Philosophy at the University of Peking and as an amateur he made his first works in film. Later, he moved to England where he studied film at the London Polytechnic School and the London Film School.
Back in Colombia, in 1977, he directed his first short films and worked as a director of photography, among his credits are: “AMOR CIEGO” (1980) and “PADRE POR ACCIDENTE” (1981), and collaborated as a cameraman in “PURA SANGRE” (1982) by Luis Ospina y Condores and “CONDORES NO ENTIERRA TODOS LOS DÍAS” by Francisco Norden (1984).
In 1989 he premiered his feature film “TÉCNICAS DE DUELO”, which received the award for Best First Feature Film at the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival, the Silver Makhila for Best First Feature at the International Iberian and Latin American Festival Film in Biarritz (France), the Special Jury Award at the New York Latino Film Festival, and the Best Film Award and Critics Award at the Gramado Latin and Brazilian Film Festival (Brazil).
Public recognition came with his second feature film, “LA ESTRATEGIA DEL CARACOL”, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1993, becoming his first film commercially shown internationally and an icon of Colombian cinematography. It received, among other recognitions, the Audience Award and the Award of the Federation of Art at the Biarritz Festival (France), the Golden Spike for Best Film, the Audience Award and the Youth Award at SEMINCI in Valladolid (Spain).
Among his other credits are “ÁGUILAS NO CAZAN MOSCAS”1994), “ILONA LLEGA CON LLUVIA” (1996), “GOLPE DE ESTADIO” (1998) which gave César Mora a Special Mention for Best Actor at the Havana Festival; “PERDER ES CUESTION DE METODO” (2004), “TODOS SE VAN” (2015)
Since 1992 he has also directed television series in Colombia and Spain, among which are “LA MUJER DOBLE” (Caracol TV, 1992), “ESCALONA” (Caracol TV, 1992), “CANDELA” (Colombia, 1996), “SEVERO OCHOA” (Spain, 2001) , “CUÉNTAME COMO PASO” (Spain, 2004-2008), the most awarded Spanish series to date, the miniseries “ADOLFO SUÁREZ, EL PRESIDENTE” (Antena 3, Spain, 2010), “LA POLA” (RCN TV, 2010), “DR. MATA” ( RCN TV, 2014), and “GARZÓN VIVE”, (RCN TV, 2018) for each of these series he received the award for Best Series Director at the Catalina Awards of Colombian Television.
Mr. Cabrera has served as Head of the Department of Production at the International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (2000) and Professor of Cinematography at the Javeriana University of Bogotá (1992).
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, he was a film critic and editor at the Clarín newspaper from 1992 to 2012 and currently works as a journalist and critic in different media in addition to his own website: MicropsiaCine. He was the Programming Delegate for Latin America for several festivals (Venice, Rome, Macao, Beijing and Pingyao, among others) and currently fulfills that role in the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes. He's been Vicepresident of FIPRESCI, the film critics' association, and was a member of the jury in festivals such as Berlín, Toronto, Venice, San Sebastián and Rotterdam, among many others. He is a professor of Journalism at the Metropolitan University of Buenos Aires (UMET).
Paulina Montes is co-founder of the Indie Pasion Film Festival and executive director of Fundación Manos del Sur, a nonprofit organization she founded in 1999.
Born in Chile, she grew up in Argentina and moved to Miami where she became part of a growing expat community.
Concerned with the social issues she had seen all around Latin America, she focused in two main aspects: providing the children the essential educational opportunities they lacked and bringing awareness of the problematic and opportunities of Latin America. As Social Impact Resources Director of the Festival, Paulina will develop a program of films, shorts, documentaries and discussions, emphasizing the importance of bringing attention to all the social challenges of the Iberoamerican society and working to look for sustainable answers and solutions.
Fundación Manos del Sur will sponsor a “Social Impact Award” that will be presented each year to the winner of a student contest, focusing on different aspects of the Iberoamerican culture.
Martha Rosende worked 35 years in accounting and finance where she was Chief Financial Officer for a duty-free operator. She currently volunteers as the Command Senior Volunteer for the 63d Readiness División of the US Army Reserve in Mountain View, California. She also recently joined the Red Cross in Disaster Operations and the Latino Engagement Teams
Born in Mexico City, Brandon studied Industrial Engineering and Systems at the Tec de Monterrey Campus Santa Fe, contest and won first place in Shorts with Voice, and stood out for his participation in different events related to television in Mexico, completed a diploma in Philosophy in Barcelona and a course in Administration with the IESEG University in Lille, France.
After some time working in a Mexican financial institution based in Miami, he returned to Mexico to be part of the Mitsubishi Conciencia Cívica advertising campaign and FINTONIC launch campaign in 2019. He collaborated with the CDMX government for a campaign of “fitness motivation” where he worked with high-performance Mexican athletes.
He also dabbled in modeling, parading for different Mexican clothing brands and participated in different productions of feature films in Mexico and series on Netflix.
In 2019 he returned to Miami to be part of IAFFM.
is a Colombian filmmaker and graduate of Full Sail University. Since graduating in 2011, Botero has produced, directed and written various films, receiving several important recognitions for his work. In 2014, Yahoo introduced Botero as “an influential upcoming Latino filmmake¨ CNN stated that ¨Famor’s work was remarkable and inspirational,” and Orlando’s Mayor Buddy Dyer officially recognized Botero for his work as a filmmaker and congratulated him on his devotion to the community and his philanthropic work.
In 2018 and 2019, the United Nations hosted Botero as a panelist and showcased his work at the UN headquarters in New York City. His latest work, SILENCED, a feature film based on the true story of a woman who disappeared in Mexico. Due to be released in Dec
2020.
Born in Quito, Ecuador, and living in Bergen County, NJ, Giovanna Aguilar is an award-winning multimedia creator who is passionate about stories driving social impact.
As a writer, she works with C-Suite executives in thought leadership and nonprofits serving underserved communities with impactful programs in education, social justice, the arts and emotional well-being. In 2017, she ghostwrote The Business Caring Formula: Your New Leadership Lifestyle for Emma Arakelyan, a former partner of EY and managing director of Accenture.
As a filmmaker, she works on documentaries and narratives that shed light on compelling and inspirational stories with universal themes celebrating the human spirit.
Aguilar was part of the producing team of the Emmy® Award-winning When We Were Apollo (W3A) for Best Historical documentary that explores the enduring impact of the Apollo Space Program through the eyes of extraordinary everyday workers who helped put a human on the moon. W3A premiered at the U.S. Space Center and Rocket Center in Alabama in 2019 and broadcast internationally on PBS and the History Channel.
She also produced the award-winning documentary DreamTown, an international soccer film that follows an Afro-Ecuadorian player, Anibal Chala, as he strives to make it to the professional league. DreamTown, a multigrant awarded film —HBO/NALIP, NALAC, NYWIFT —can be seen in short form on PBS's Frontline World Rough Cut or via rental.
Other media credits include line producer on Happy Hour, written and directed by Gretl Claggett, and narrated by Academy Award-winner Julianne Moore. Aguilar is developing EPIC Women In Sports, a documentary series that she will direct about inspirational stories of women in sports.
Aguilar is a member of the New York Women in Film & TV and served as the Public Relations Chair (2010-2011) of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and energy and environmental studies from Hunter College of the City University of New York. She is a visual artist whose chosen medium is oil on canvas, where, while mixing colors, she finds her inspiration for stories.
Studied Dramatic Literature and Theater at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), worked in film distributors such as Gussi and Quality Films, where she was Director of the Film Division.
She has collaborated on special projects for the Cineteca Nacional and IMCINE in México.
She has twenty-five years of experience in film festivals, began her career with UNIFRANCE at the Acapulco French Film Festival (1996-2001) where she managed Media and Propaganda, and the Director of Public Relations of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) (2011-2013),
Since 2003 is the Coordinator of Special Attention to Guests at the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) and currently works for the Riviera Maya Film Festival (RMFF), San Cristóbal de las Casas International Film Festival (FICSCC) and the Festival Tulum International Cinema (FICTU) in all its editions.
For the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), she was the Guest Coordinator of the Ariel award ceremony (2016-2018), and since 2018 is the head of the Guest Talent Department on behalf of Mexico for the Platinum Ibero-American Cinema Awards.
is an Ecuatorian filmmaker with an extensive list of credits which include Documentaries, Films, and Web Content. He is also an entrepreneur, having founded Bananas Films in 2008 in which they have produced media content for top brands around the world. Currently, Gonzalo lives in Miami and works as the Director of Media of Production Services for the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He has also been involved with Media for Change since 2016, in which he shares all his knowledge and experience to promote well- crafted media worldwide.
Diego Felipe is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, and actor.
He was one of the youngest students to be accepted as a pupil of master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami at the Escuela Internacional de Ciné y Televisón in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. He has directed and produced films that have been accepted to a multitude of national and international film festivals and, in collaboration with 74th Avenue Films, Diego produced and directed his most ambitious project to date, My American Identity Project, currently available on VOD. More recently, he has worked for the likes of Comedy Central and NBCUniversal. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California
CEO of Global Entretainment Enterprises “Expert in Global Communications “and Ari Global Show CEO of “ Global Entertainment E “a high Impact audiovisual and communication company. Thanks to her success she received an Award for her excellence, leadership and professional commitment, granted by the NAPW, considered by Forbes magazine as one of the leading associations in the USA. Creator of “Ari Global Show “ in which she has interviewed top celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Amy Schumer, Vanessa Hudgens, Shaquille O´Neal, Tyler Perry, Eva Longoria and others .Graduate of the American University of Paris (communications), Accomplish Certificate Meeting and Conference Management at NYU. She has worked with well known brands & talents around the world to help them grow.
Buenos Aires based Transmedia producer, Television Executive, Influencer Expert and Brand Strategy. Took courses at Harvard Business School and Columbia. She was Latam Director of FWTV, and now she also work as CEO of Chicas Guapas TV, a successful digital platform that reaches more than 500K people monthly.
Italian Mexican born in Mexico City, Paolo is a marketing and digital marketing graduate, with 6 years of experience in marketing, advertising and sales. After a year in an advertising agency, he started working at UPS for another year. Then he went on to Newell Brands to work with brands such as Sharpie, Rubbermaid, Coleman and more, working in the trade marketing segment for Mexico and then Centralamerica. During this period he has developed product launches, branding, product research and sales. After 1 year working in Barcelona and Florence in a marketing agency with social media managment and design, he went back to Mexico City for a job in the Fintech sector, working first as a community manager and then Marketing and Branding.
Christian Carabias, born in the beautiful city of Acapulco, Mexico, is passionate about nature, a quality that is portrayed in every performance on television and motion pictures.
At the age of eighteen, Christian jumped on stage and started to develop and polish his artistic qualities by joining a boy band called Tierra Cero. He had the opportunity to be involved in three successful records with one of the big recording labels in the industry, BMG; he traveled with the band all over, from the North of Mexico to the Argentine Pampas.
After leaving Tierra Cero, Christian discovered his true passion, acting. He studied this craft with true inspiration in two of the most prestigious acting academies in Mexico, Televisa and Argos.
Christian has taken advantage of every opportunity to be involved in diverse challenging roles in soap operas as well as motion pictures, showing his undisputed passion and talent. His focus and dedication has been a key factor in the rapid growth of a very successful career; he has worked in several productions such as “Valeria” from Venevision Productions, “Protagonistas de Novela”, “Decisiones”, and “Mas Sabe el Diablo” from Telemundo NBC and others as “Mi Querida Isabel”, “Amigos por Siempre” and “Mujer: Casos de la Vida Real” of the Mexican Broadcasting Company TELEVISA.
Entrepreneur and executive producer of animated and filmed productions for clients such as Discovery Inc, Natgeo Kids, and Cartoon Network. Jorge has more than 20 years of experience in the world of business and creativity.
With successful experience in creating, producing, and managing content for international distribution, including Antarctica series for Discovery Inc, Living Green, The Great Provider, among other series.
He is currently involved as an executive producer in the production of series and movies and various animated children's content projects.
Xenia is a visual producer. She graduated from the Andrés Bello Catholic University (Caracas-Venezuela) and has more than 12 years of experience in the advertising industry. She worked in more than 300 commercials with Latin American directors and with the most important advertising agencies and video production houses in Venezuela.
Since 2013 she has been part of The Magus Films team as the Executive Producer, creating stories that connect with audiences in a closer and more humane way.In 2017 she moved to Miami, USA where she opened the company's branch and since then they have served important clients from Miami, New York and Caracas.
Maria Alejandra is a Latino-American TV & Film Creative Executive; Award-Winning Filmmaker (Vamos 2019); Shortlisted Executive Producer for the Academy Award Oscars, Best International Feature Film (Libertador 2015) and Associate Producer from documentary ‘Dudamel: Let the Children Play’ who graduated as a Human Rights Lawyer from Law & Business School in Venezuela and Entertainment and Media Management from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
She is a Co-Creator & Writer from Serious Ladies, a group of women storytellers who have focused their writing as a force for social change, with emphasis on the representation of women’s voices and stories. Maria is currently producing two (2) feature films and developing four (4) tv series in her own content studio company Godart Studio based in Los Angeles.
Graduated in Journalism from the EPCSG, she has developed various Marketing, PR and digital marketing activities throughout her professional career.
With a Master's degree in Political Journalism, she has more than 30 years of experience in PR and promotion, where she has developed strategies for companies such as: Latin American Grammy, Cinemex, MTV Latin America, Altavista Films, Alebrije Cine y Video, Sin Sentido Films and Pantaya, among others, where she has led an extensive number of film, television, music and marketing projects.
She is an associate producer of feature films such as: Ella es Ramona, directed by Hugo Rodríguez and El viaje de Keta, debut feature by Julio Bekhor and Fernando Sama, Since 2010 she founded Cinetc with Beto Cohen, where in addition to promoting films ranging from Amores perros to ¿Qué culpa tiene el niño? and Cosas imposibles, they collaborate with the Morelia International Film Festival, as well as the AMACC The Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, among many other projects.
He studied Communication Sciences at Universidad Anáhuac and has a master's degree in Screenwriting from UCLA.
He participated as a scriptwriter in the television program Sesame Street, in conjunction with Televisa Niños and Children Televisión Workshop, while as a journalist he has been editor of Oxido magazine, creative director of Origina, Cinemanía, Directv and Pink, and has also collaborated in several other magazines such as: 15 to 20, 24x sec, Casas y Gente, CinePremiere, H for men, Playboy, Polux, Rolling Stone.
He is the screenwriter of the films: Ella es Ramona and El viaje de Keta, where he also serves as a producer, in addition to having participated in the script of the film: Isi yo fuera tú.
Since 2010 he founded, together with Claudia Del Castillo, Cinetc ... where, in addition to promoting films ranging from No se aceptan devoluciones to El infierno and Sueño en otro idioma they collaborate with the International Film Festival of Morelia, as well as the AMACC The Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, among many other projects.
Pablo Rendón is a graduate of the Bachelor of Social Communication from the UAM-Xochimilco. He has worked since 2015 in the creation of digital content for various projects of a cultural nature, among which the following stand out:
Macabro, Mexico City International Horror Film Festival (Macabro FICH) (2016-2019), created for the dissemination, promotion and formal exhibition of the most representative classic and contemporary films of this genre, nationally and internationally.
City Awards (2017), a citizen initiative that aims to recognize emerging projects that positively transform urban environments
He currently coordinates the networks of the Morelia International Film Festival, a non-profit Civil Association dedicated to supporting Mexican filmmakers, cultivating new audiences, and disseminating the film culture of Mexico as well as in the web content area of the International Festival de Cine de la UNAM (FICUNAM) an important exhibition window in the country for independent films, as well as an open space for research and academic exploration of cinema.
Mauricio went to Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá D. C., to study Mass Communications, but his passion has always be life shows and what it comes with them. I have worked as a Free-lance for several production company in Miami, UK, Italy, Singapore and Colombia as well.
He had the privilege to produce great experiences thru brands activation for Banco Santander, MTV Networks LATAM, Nickelodeon, Vh1, Smirnoff Ice and Buchanan’s Scotch Whisky with World Top Artist names as Rey Pelé, Sir Elton Jhon, Sir Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Shakira, NSYNC, Back Street Boys, James Blunt, among others; but the most important and honored roll that I played, was to be chosen over a number of great producer in Colombia, to be the Leader of the production for “Papa Francisco’s visit to Bogotá” and as well as an Advisor for the Cartagena City Administration, whom were in charge of the “Papa Francisco’s visit to Cartagena”.
This year I’m very pleased to be part of the IAFFM as Events Production Advisor.
Victoria’s broad experience in event/travel planning, logistics, and operations allows her to provide independent, tailor-made travel consultancy by managing clients’ interests, needs, and expectations.
Laura Mejia Cruz comenzó su carrera en el mundo del entretenimiento como conductora de televisión en su natal Colombia. Mientras continuaba sus estudios en Comunicación Social y Periodismo en Bogotá, empezó su trabajo en la cadena radial Caracol Radio donde colaboró por varios años. En el 2000, se mudó a Estados Unidos para continuar con sus estudios en periodismo y producción de radio y televisión. Paralelamente comenzó a trabajar en Crescent Moon Records, sello discográfico de Emilio Estefan en asociación con Sony Music Entertainment Inc. Posteriormente fue nombrada Directora de Comunicaciones de Estefan Enterprises, manejando las relaciones públicas para Gloria Estefan por mas de 10 años. Mejia Cruz ademas es colaboradora de Showbiz para la cadena internacional CNN en Español y tiene segmentos habituales en importantes cadenas radiales como Éxitos 107.1FM (Miami, USA) y Oye Cali (Cali, Colombia).
En el 2009 funda, junto a su socia Susan Stipcianos, la agencia de relaciones públicas The Dream Team Agency. The Dream Team Agency cuenta con un nutrido grupo de clientes de primer nivel, entre los que se encuentran los artistas Natalia Jiménez, Carlos Rivera, Silvestre Dangond, Ingratax, Brianda Lizárraga, Leonel Garcia, Yuri y Gian Marco. En el pasado han trabajado con importantes artistes como Luis Miguel, Ricardo Arjona y Pitbull por resaltar algunos. En la agencia también son líderes manejando im-portantes cuentas de marcas vinculadas a la moda y belleza como Tresemmé, Esika, Neutrogena, Beauty Counter, Estee Lauder y Victoria’s Secret.
A su vez se han destacado por impulsar proyectos filantrópicos y emblemáticos como el Maratón de Miami, St. Jude Research Hospital y eventos orientados a empoderar a otras mujeres. El 2009, la revista Billboard celebró la unión de estas dos profesionales con un artículo donde destacaba la manera en que cumplían los objetivos de sus clientes, excediendo sus expectativas por medio de planes inteligentes, respeto y urgencia en sus proyectos. En mayo del 2019 la misma revista nuevamente resaltó su trabajo excepcional dentro del artículo “The PR Ladies Behind Latin Superstars”. Ambas también han sido galardonadas - como equipo - en varias ocasiones por NAMIC con el “Premio a la Excelencia en el Mercadeo Multicultural”, y han sido destacadas en importantes medios de comunicación
