The Critics Choice Association announced today the first annual Celebration of Latino Cinema, taking place on Thursday, December 9, 2021. The inaugural Celebration of Latino Cinema will be presented virtually and will honor those who have made significant contributions to film in 2021. The Critics Choice Association will honor Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Peabody Award-winning actress Rita Moreno with the Icon Award, while acclaimed songwriter, actor and director Lin-Manuel Miranda will receive the Visionary Award. Global award-winning actor Demián Bichir, one of four Latino actors to have ever been nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award, will receive the Career Achievement Award in honor of the 10 year anniversary of the film A Better Life, and his historic Oscar nomination for that role. Additional honorees will be announced in the coming weeks.
“We are thrilled to be launching the first annual Celebration of Latino Cinema which recognizes the talented performers and skilled professionals who create the acclaimed films we are so proud to honor,” said CCA Member and co-programmer of the event, Claudia Puig.
“Films by our honorees represent the diverse and multi-faceted Latino community, and reflect our increasingly inclusive industry” said CCA Board Member and co-programmer of the event, Clayton Davis.
The Celebration of Latino Cinema will be produced by Madelyn Hammond and Javier Infante of Madelyn Hammond & Associates. Stagedge, one of the top production companies in the U.S. will be responsible for transforming the show into an immersive virtual experience.
A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to LA Collab, whose mission is to accelerate Latino access, visibility and representation in the entertainment industry.
Rita Moreno has won all four of the most prestigious awards in show business: an Oscar, a Tony, two Emmys, and a Grammy. She recently co-starred in the critically acclaimed Latinx reimagining of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom, “One Day At A Time.” Her acclaimed documentary “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It,” had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival before being released in theaters nationwide by Roadside Attractions, and will be broadcast on PBS American Masters this October. Moreno also co-stars in and is an Executive Producer of the Steven Spielberg remake of “West Side Story,” scheduled for December 2021 release. Recipient of the Peabody Career Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honor for her lifetime contributions to American culture, she was also honored by her peers as the 50th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and she recently served as Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade and the National Puerto Rican Day Parade. Moreno’s first ever all-Spanish language album, Una Vez Más, was produced by her good friend Emilio Estefan, and she is a New York Times bestselling author with her first book, Rita Moreno: A Memoir published by Celebra Books. Moreno has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush and the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is a Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy and Tony award-winning songwriter, actor and director. He is the creator and original star of Broadway’s Tony-winning Hamilton and In the Heights. His additional Broadway credits include Freestyle Love Supreme (2020 Special Tony Award Recipient, Co-Founder, Guest Star), Bring It On: The Musical (co-composer/co-lyricist, Tony nomination for Best Musical), and West Side Story (2009 revival, Spanish translations). Miranda is the recipient of the 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award, the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors and the 2019 Portrait of a Nation Prize. He received an Emmy Award with Tom Kitt for their song, “Bigger” from the 67th Annual Tony Awards. Upcoming projects include Disney’s Encanto and his directorial film debut, tick, tick… BOOM!
Global award-winning actor Demián Bichir received a Best Actor Oscar nomination in 2012 for his role in Chris Weitz’s, A Better Life, becoming the first Mexican-born actor to be nominated in that category by the Academy since Anthony Quinn in 1957. This year, Lionsgate celebrates the 10 year anniversary of A Better Life, which also earned Bichir nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards and SAG Awards, as well as a Virtuoso Award from the Santa Barbara Independent Film Festival. He recently received rave reviews for his performance in the film Land, directed by Robin Wright, and received a 2021 Ariel Best Actor nomination for his performance in the independent film, Danyka in Mexico. Bichir was born in Mexico City and has starred in critically acclaimed films all over the world, with more than 20 titles shot in Mexico and in countries such as Spain, Ireland, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, New Zealand and Australia. His film credits include Steven Soderbergh’s Che, Oliver Stone’s Savages, Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills, Paul Feig’s The Heat, Richard Shepard’s Dom Hemingway, Ridley Scott’s Alien, George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky, and Adam Wingard’s blockbuster hit, Godzilla Vs. Kong.