Netflix Supports Central American Filmmakers with $750,000 Fund

Streaming News

by Larissa MoriApril 27^th, 2021

Launched by Netflix in partnership with Mexico City-based non-profit Ambulante, the $750,000 Miradas fund will support more than 80 productions that have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the announcement on Netflix’s website, this will benefit 500 emerging, mid-career, and established filmmakers; all from indigenous and Afro-descendant communities including the Zapotec Serrano, Totonaco, Mixteco, Náhuatl, and Purépecha first peoples.

Almost 75% of these communities are currently located in Mexico with the rest in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

Netflix Miradas Fund

A committee made up of 11 experts, social leaders and key actors in the field of community cinema in Mexico and Central America selected the projects that were helped by the fund. All these projects – which represent a variety of genres including documentary, fiction, animation, and experimental – are currently being shot, or are in post-production.

In her post announcing the news on Netflix’s website, General Director of Ambulante Paulina Suarez said:

 Above all, supporting the voice and vision of community filmmakers working in diverse territories, allows us to envision what is still possible.

The filmmakers identified by the Miradas Fund are bright lights on an alternate map that will guide us in the construction of other futures…Their stories outline different ways of seeing the world and relating with each other and the planet, illuminating our present moment and the path forward.

Netflix’s Miradas fund announcement comes little more than a month after the streaming giant pledged $5 million towards programs that support female filmmakers.

It also comes after a year which saw the company pledge $5 million to Black creators, youth organizations, and businesses – and announce a $100 million fund to help film and TV industry workers whose productions were upended by the pandemic. 

Feature Image by freestocks on Unsplash

Read more about the Miradas fund on Netflix’s blog, and let us know what you think in the comments below!