Sunday, October 18 at 2:00pm: Join Cine Latino in a LIVE ZOOM conversation that includes Valentina Director and Writer Cássio Pereira dos Santos, Producer Erika Pereira dos Santos, Lead Actress Thiessa Woinbackk, and local Multi-disciplinary Artist Xochi De la Luna, moderated by Film Critic David Ansen.
Watch the recorded Q&A on Facebook
Panelists
Cássio Pereira dos Santos - Director, Writer
Born in 1980 in Minas Gerais, Brazil, Cássio Pereira dos Santos studied filmmaking at University of Brasília, where he directed fictional and documentary projects. After finishing film school in 2003, he's written and directed 8 shorts films. His works have been selected at several international film festivals, such as the Aspen ShortsFest, Palm Springs ShortFest, and many others. As a writer, Cássio has contributed to films such as Guigo Offline, an LGBTQ feature project for Brazilian television, which won Best Brazilian Feature Film Award at Mix Brasil Film Festival. Valentina is his debut feature. He’s also starting the development of his second feature, Alírio in the City.
David Ansen - MODERATOR, Film Critic
David Ansen was a movie critic for Newsweek from 1977 to 2008. He was the Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival from 2010 through 2014. He is currently the Lead Programmer of the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He has written documentaries for TNT, HBO and PBS on Greta Garbo, Groucho Marx, Bette Davis, and Elizabeth Taylor and has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, Interview, Cosmopolitan and other publications. In the 1990s he served for 8 years on the selection committee of the New York Film Festival.
Erika Pereira dos Santos - Producer
Erika was born in 1984 in the city of Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. She has a minor in Acting at Faculdade de Artes Dulcina de Moraes, in Brasília. She has worked as a casting director in several award-winning short films, such as The Scarecrow Girl, and Marina’s Ocean, and also in the feature film A Espera de Liz, by Bruno Torres (to be released). Erika has also been working as an assistant producer since 2004 in several Brazilian feature film projects, such as Insolação, by Felipe Hirsch and Daniela Thomas (Venice 2009) and Brazilian Western, by René Sampaoio (Toronto 2013). In 2016, she partnered with her brother Cássio to create the production company Campo Cerrado Produções (based in the city of Uberlândia, state of Minas Gerais). Their previous short films have received awards in Japan, United States, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Uruguay, India and Taiwan, and have been sold to TV channels in Brazil, Switzerland, Japan, USA and Argentina. Currently Erika is releasing Valentina, her first feature project as a producer. She also acted as casting director for the film. Also as a producer, she’s following the development process of her company’s second feature, Alírio in the City.
Thiessa Woinbackk - Lead Actress
Thiessa Woinbackk was born in the state of Goiás, central Brazil. She has a minor in biology and was part of a theater group for tree years in her hometown. Currently, Thiessa lives in São Paulo, where she runs a fastgrowing Youtube channel called Thiessita, with more than 770 thousand followers, and around 35 million views. She is also a trans rights activist and publishes videos on topics such as civil rights, beauty and the importance of self-acceptance for LGBTQ teens. Valentina is her feature film debut and she hopes the film will open doors for other acting opportunities. Thiessa's Youtube channel.
Xochi de la Luna - Multi-disciplinary artist, Comedian, Director, Curator, Playwright
Xochi de la Luna is an trans agender (they/she,) Salvadoran and Mexican immigrant, multidisciplinary artist and organizer. Their work is grounded in the celebration of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists, specifically those who also identify as transgender, non binary, or members of the LGBQ community. Known for Uproar Performing Arts with a flagship Cabaret formerly known as MGBS. Uproar has grown to include an all inclusive variety show Called Vector 9, and Uproar Comedy Open Mic, specifically for BIPOC & LGBTQ folks. Their solo project, La Curandera, is a blend of poetry, music, and performance art has been featured at The Walker Art Center, Patrick’s Cabaret, Pangea World Theater, the QTIPOC Conference, and the Trans Equity Summit. They’ve opened for Alok Vaid-Menon, have helped curate and host a 2019 Walker Art Center program for their Terrace Thursday series. Was one of the inaugural Emerging Curating Institute Fellows, and was an awardee of the 2019 Visual Arts Fund.
Hebe Tabachnik - Executive Producer
Hebe Tabachnik has been a film curator, producer and festival consultant for twenty years, and participated as a juror, project evaluator and panelist in the US, Europe, Latin America, Israel and China. She is Senior Programmer for the Seattle, Palms Springs and Cartagena International Film Festivals, and the Artistic Director for Cine Latino Minneapolis Saint Paul. Hebe worked for Sundance and Los Angeles Film Festivals and was the Director/Producer of the Guadalajara Film Festival in Los Angeles. She is part of the MSP Film Society Advisory Council and served in the Board of Dance Camera West. She gives workshops on festivals, film distribution and project pitching all over the world. As a curator and producer she seeks to empower visionary artists who build bridges of understanding through stories that highlight human rights and; social, political, environmental, justice and activism. Her latest collaboration as Executive Producer is the Brazilian film Valentina, the Debut feature by Cássio Pereira dos Santos, that had its World Premiere at Outfest 2020. Valentina is an inspiring and hopeful story of gender expression and solidarity that features the breakthrough performance of trans actress Thiessa Woinbackk winner of OUTFEST Jury Award for Best Performance. Hebe received a special recognition from the California State Assembly and the Moving Film Forward Award presented by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). In 2020, Hebe was one of the inaugural ARRAY Now Grantees. The grants created by Ava DuVernay’s Array Alliance recognize some of the nation’s top community organizers and arts advocates working in independent film. She became a Professor in the Directing Department at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires where she graduated as Director and Screenwriter. She is the Co-Founder and VP of Lokro Productions, Inc., a film production company in Los Angeles, California. Born in Buenos Aires Argentina, Hebe is based in Los Angeles, California.
About Valentina
WATCH MOVIE
When trans teen Valentina moves from the city to a small, conservative town, the community quickly sets up roadblocks to her happiness, forcing the shy teen to stand her ground in this tender, finely drawn debut from writer/director Cássio Pereira dos Santos featuring the actress and Youtuber celebrity Thiessa Woinbackk, winner of this year's OUTFEST jury award for Best Performance.