Nuestro Stories, the nation’s only media platform devoted to Latino origins and histories, recently launched a special micro-digital documentary on The Hidden Latino Figures of Hollywood. The documentary series is sponsored by McDonald’s USA’s Spotlight Dorado, a new multi-year platform by McDonald’s aimed at uplifting Latino talent and arming them with access to mentorship and coveted resources to change their career trajectories and put them steps closer to making their cinematic dreams come true.
The short form doc and multi-media content come at a time when Latinos are calling for more representation on and off the screen in Hollywood. The series focuses on four Hollywood icons who suppressed their Latino identity – their names, looks, and/or more – to break into the entertainment industry. Their names are legendary and still surprising to many: Raquel Welch, Rita Hayworth, Anthony Quinn, and Lynda Carter.
Earlier in August, the Golden Arches awarded three emerging Latino filmmakers a total of $225,000 to produce their short films and help boost industry representation. Acclaimed actress, director, producer, and representation advocate Stephanie Beatriz surprised them with the news that now positions them to be named the grand-prize winner.
Even though Latinos represent nearly 20% of the U.S. population, their stories make up less than 1% of those told by Hollywood.[1] Without mentorship, connections, and financial support, many Latino filmmakers struggle to produce films.
In the spirit of Spotlight Dorado, the digital and social media content was produced by the Latina-owned Brilla Media, which is the parent company of Nuestro Stories. Every facet of the storytelling, from script to directing, editing, and research, was produced by a team of Latinos of Mexican-American, Cuban-American, Puerto Rican, Colombian-American, and Venezuelan-American descent. This is the second part of a content series McDonald’s is producing with Nuestro Stories.
