Diverse Perspectives Series

Diverse Perspectives Series

A Latino's journey to America: are you who left or who you became?

Juan Paulo Laserna, Film Director/Producer/Screenwriter

Join the event on YouTube Live on February 18th at 5:30pm with this link:

Link: https://youtube.com/live/VCx8IUU_tPU?feature=share 

Co-hosted by Assistant Professor-in-Residence Catherine Masud, and Digital Media & Design student co-hosts Braden Hynes and Ryan Cohutt; Event Producer: Musawir Abrar

About the Topic:

As a storyteller one of the most consequential aspects of moving forward is finding your "voice", the subconscious amalgamation of your morality, humor, taste and world vision, encompassing the unique journey that is your identity. As an immigrant, your voice changes because your identity changes, so are you who left or who you're becoming? Why do we choose to tell some stories over others and what does that say about where our voice is heading.

About the Speaker: 

Juan Paulo Laserna is a Colombian screenwriter, director and producer whose stories utilize magical realism and dark humor to develop contemporary dramas and crime narratives related to immigration. He grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, after which he moved to Beijing, China, to pursue Mandarin Studies at Beijing Language and Culture University. He received his BFA with honors from School of Visual Arts, where he directed his first feature film, Las Malas Lenguas, which screened at several festivals, had a strong theatrical run in Colombia and was later acquired by STARZ.

He attained an MFA with honors at Columbia University on writing for television, where was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Screenplay Competition Award for his story Wuasikamas, which centered on the indigenous rehabilitation of the land during the war in Colombia, as well as the Katharina Otto Bernstein Mentorship Prize for his thesis film, Not My Name.

He is a NALIP Emerging Content Scholar, a Film Independent Screenwriting Fellow, a Cine Qua Non Screenwriting Fellow and a recipient of the Focus Features Award for Social and Cultural Impact. He most recently completed working as Director’s Assistant on the Netflix series One Hundred Years of Solitude and is currently in development of his next feature film, Not My Name, which has gained the support of the Film Independent Producing Lab and the Producers Guild of America Create Lab.

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This event is brought to you by UConn’s Department of Digital Media & Design in partnership with UConn’s El Instituto.

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