The Latinx House, the Sundance Institute’s Women at Sundance program, has another year of successful programming at Sundance Film Festival. Co-founded by social entrepreneur and activist Mónica Ramírez, filmmaker and activist Alex Martínez Kondracke, and producer and entrepreneur Olga Segura, The Latinx House is a nonprofit initiative that aims to change the image of the Latinx community in the United States by elevating and amplifying the voices, as well as the content created by Latinx artists, entertainers, policy experts, and grassroots organizers.

Programming from the House is being shared virtually in order to provide Latinx artists and creators with films at the Festival a space to celebrate their work with their community anywhere. This year’s sponsors and partners include Amazon Prime Video, Ford Foundation, Justice For Migrant Women, Luminate, Ms. Foundation, National Women's Law Center, Poderistas, Pop Culture Collective, and WarnerMedia OneFifty.

Whether it was “Building Power in the Latinx Community”, or Eva Longoria’s directorial debut with La Guerra Civil on Oscar de la Hoya , or discussing the power of representation, The Latinx House shines the light on inclusivity and the power of storytelling.

After the festival, Netflix, and Shondaland announced a joint partnership creating a new program for Latina and non-binary Latinx directors to gain invaluable experience that can help open new doors in the entertainment industry. The Adelante Directors Fellowship will be a year-long program that supports the selected directors’ professional development and creates a pipeline to support independent filmmakers as they level up in their careers and learn more about directing on a series.

“It’s essential that the industry dedicates the resources needed to develop a strong pipeline of Latina and non-binary Latinx directors. We are so excited to be working with Women at Sundance, Netflix, and Shondaland, allies who can help us build opportunities for talented creators. We believe it is critical to be working with like-minded partners in Hollywood to accelerate change in the industry. We hope that this Fellowship is just the beginning and will inspire even more studios and companies to open doors for Latinx directors,” said Olga Segura, producer, activist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of The Latinx House.

“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with The Latinx House, Netflix and Shondaland on the inaugural year of the Adelante Directors Fellowship. Women at Sundance continues to support filmmakers from underrepresented communities and recognizes the impact that can be made by working together with our partners to build a more inclusive community of creators. Providing a shadowing opportunity is one of many ways we hope to increase access and exposure for Latina and non-binary Latinx directors,” said Adella Ladjevardi, Associate Director, Women at Sundance.

Netflix’s support of the Adelante Directors Fellowship builds on their partnership with The Latinx House and Sundance, and is part of Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity, an effort to create more behind-the-camera opportunities for underrepresented communities within the TV and film industries. 

“We know that great representation on screen begins with who’s behind the camera. We’re honored to be a part of this incredible coalition to help support Latina and non-binary Latinx directors who are looking for a pathway into television,” said Bela Bajaria, Head of Global TV, Netflix.

 “Shondaland is committed to finding ways to ensure equal representation both in front of and behind the camera,” said Shondaland’s Head of Creative Production, Tom Verica. “We are incredibly excited to partner with The Latinx House and the Sundance Institute’s Women at Sundance to establish this wonderful program that will mentor and nurture Latina and non-binary directors.”

The Fellowship includes the opportunity to shadow an episode of a series, a grant to support the artist for the duration of a six-week period while shadowing, a two-day orientation with masterclasses, and bespoke support from The Latinx House. Shondaland will be providing shadowing opportunities as part of the program on some of their productions as well. Applicants for this program have been sourced through targeted outreach from The Latinx House and Sundance Institute. The three selected Latina and non-binary Latinx directors will be announced in early summer.

For more information about The Adelante Directors Fellowship, people can reach out to The Latinx House at info@thelatinxhouse.org.