Hollywood Boffo for Latino B.O.! Dispatch from the Brownies at the NALIP Conference

“The scene in Long Beach this past weekend resembled a Minuteman’s wet dream: hundreds of brown faces surrounded by tall fences and concrete barriers.

Those 800 or so Latinos navigated their way through the city’s pre-Grand Prix maze for the seventh annual National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) conference. Inside the city’s Hyatt Regency, however, the idea of borders was a joke. The NALIP conference, which took place in Huntington Beach last year, delivered on the organization’s mission to empower the Latino indie film community through professional development and creating opportunities. More than 100 speakers ranging from grassroots media activists to heads of corporate juggernauts raced participants through a massive assemblage of panels, pitch sessions, workshops, schmoozefests and member screenings. Novice filmmakers chatted up big-name producers and directors while hotshot studio executives talked to even the freshest kid in the hopes said kid might have the next Motorcycle Diaries bouncing around his brain. “

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