Nexus Studios has added director Carlos López Estrada to its commercialmaking roster. Among his credits are the feature films Raya and the Last Dragon and Blindspotting, which earned him Oscar and DGA Award nominations, respectively. The Academy Award nod came earlier this year for Best Animated Feature Film (López Estrada and Don Hall directed Raya and the Last Dragon). Three years earlier, the live-action Blindspottimg–starring and co-written by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal–garnered López Estrada the DGA nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a First-Time Feature Film.
Blindspotting premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Lionsgate Entertainment. President Obama cited it as one of his favorite movies of the year. A spin-off TV sequel premiered in 2021.
López Estrada’s awards recognition also extends into shorter form fare, including a Latin Grammy for his Jesse & Joy music video “Me Voy.” The director’s clever concept-driven music promos showcase a variety of innovative and wildly imaginative techniques, including bringing Billie Eilish to gruesome tears, casting a troop of real life baboons in a video for pop-quartet Caged Animals, creating a cut out performance from "Hamilton" star Diggs, and bringing together the unexpected pairing of Katy Perry and Pikachu.
The work of López Estrada has been featured in SXSW, the L.A. Film Festival, Cartoon Network and the Hammer Museum as well as high profile publications including Vice, TIME Magazine and The Guardian.
He is currently directing a thought-provoking, animated feature documentary in development at Nexus Studios, set to release in 2023, as well as the live-action adaptation of Disney’s Robin Hood.
“Carlos is a unique talent with a body of work that encompasses high-end animated features, inventive music work and emotionally impactful live action storytelling. He’s a lovely human being with a rare combination of talents,” said Christopher O’Reilly, co-founder and ECD, Nexus Studios.
López Estrada stated, “Joining the Nexus family is a dream. I’ve been in awe of their creativity and their innovation for a long time. I cannot wait to get started making things together.”
DOC NYC Unveils Main Slate Lineup: 31 World Premieres; 24 Films Making Their U.S. Debut
DOC NYC--the documentary festival celebrating its 15th anniversary in-person November 13-21 at IFC Center, SVA Theatre and Village East by Angelika, and continuing online through December 1--has unveiled its main slate lineup. The 2024 festival presents more than 110 feature-length documentaries (including yet-to-be-announced Short List and Winner’s Circle titles) among over 200 films and dozens of events, with filmmakers expected in person at most screenings.
Opening the festival on Nov. 13 at SVA Theater will be the U.S. premiere of Sinead O’Shea’s inspiring portrait Blue Road--The Edna O’Brien Story, a breakout hit from the recent Toronto International Film Festival that honors the legendary Irish writer, who passed away just a few months ago at the age of 93.
Closing the festival on Nov. 21, also at SVA Theatre, will be the world premiere of Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn’s Drop Dead City--New York on the Brink in 1975, a look back at the circumstances and players involved in NYC’s mid-70s financial crisis. The festival’s Centerpiece screening on Nov. 14 at Village East is the World premiere of Ondi Timoner’s All God’s Children (also part of the festival’s U.S. Competition), a chronicle of a Brooklyn rabbi and Baptist pastor who join forces to create greater unity between their two communities, against all odds.
Included are 31 world premieres and 24 U.S. premieres, with eight of those presented in the U.S. Competition, for new American-produced nonfiction films, and another eight featured in International Competition, for work from around the globe. The Kaleidoscope Competition for new essayistic and formally adventurous documentaries continues, while the festival’s long-standing Metropolis... Read More