Two Latino conferences overlapped last week – and in a way, crossed into each other’s territories – Hispanicize in Miami and NALIP in Los Angeles.
The National Association of Latino Independent Producers met in Universal City. Even though the event is geared at producers and filmmakers, the reality is that social and digital media have become an important part of the industry, and depending on how it’s used, it can have a direct impact on content producers.
In the Social Life of Convergence panel, for example, issues of copyright and unauthorized use of producer’s content online generated a lively discussion. Panelist David Tamés, a filmmaker and blogger, also expressed concern about net neutrality and fears that media power brokers like Comcast could choke off speed access to smaller websites.
One of the concepts floated during the conference for independent filmmakers was to do your own thing… on YouTube. Google had a team of YouTube staffers on a panel touting the marvels of their YouTube Partner Program, which helps content creators make money by launching their own channel.
The 3 day conference, which ran from April 13 – 15 had approximately 500 attendees. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez was the keynote speaker during Friday’s luncheon, but he didn’t talk much about his new network El Rey, scheduled to launch on Comcast sometime between September 2013 and January 2014.
Rita Moreno received the NALIP Lifetime Achievement award during Saturday’s awards gala.
Hispanicize, which focuses on social media, public relations, marketing and advertising, kicked off a few days earlier. According to its organizers, the event attracted an audience of about 800 during its 4 day event April 10 – 13.
For the first time since this social media conference got started 2 years ago, Hispanicize is also featuring the inaugural National Latino Film Showcase, promoting the work of Latino filmmakers.
This year, the conference introduced the “Latinovator Awards,” presented to 5 “Latino trailblazers,” including Univision anchor María Elena Salinas, 19 time Grammy award winning producer Emilio Estefan; César Millán from The Dog Whisperer and media and real estate entrepreneur Nely Galán.
You can read more highlights of the event on VOXXI.com.