2025 AMERICAS AWARD JURY
The Americas Award for this year's Short Films in Competition in the categories of Animation, Documentary, Experimental, & Fiction will be announced on Friday, June 20 @ 6PM at the National Museum of the American Indian as part of TAFFNY's Closing Night Ceremony
FICTION & EXPERIMENTAL
Sami Buccella
Sami Buccella is a New York based multi-instrumentalist and composer. He began his studies in music and film in his native Buenos Aires, Argentina and earned a Master’s Degree in Music Composition at the City University of New York. Since his youth, he has been composing music for film and media, and touring with and writing for bands across the globe. His songs have been nominated for MTV Music and Grammy awards. Some of the films he scored have been nominated and awarded at the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, The Berlinale, Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Warsaw International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival, South by Southwest, and other international festivals.
Annelise Hagen
Annelise Hagen is an author, performer, and a yoga expert. She has performed in many plays and has written several that have been produced in New York (Unicornacoptopia, Fable, a Nutty Tale). She has appeared onscreen in Who’s That Under My Bed, Emma, and Daybreak. She got her start in the Bay Area, performing in regional repertory Shakespeare and with the Exithteater, and the American Conservatory Theater. Her book, the Yoga Face (Penguin Random House) is a bestselling wellness title and has been translated into five languages. She trained extensively in Japanese theater and has emphasized physical approaches to performance throughout her career. She is grateful to participate in this important festival and believes sharing culture makes the world a better place.
Juan Carlos Velasquez
Juan Carlos Velasquez is a Colombian/US journalist, video producer and cinephile. In Cali, he was the Director of the Cine Club Cine Ojo. For over 20 years, he was the NY correspondent for Colombian national TV networks and also worked for Associated Press (AP). Independently he has created dozens of productions and participated in several films and documentaries.
ANIMATION & DOCUMENTARY
Miguel Rueda
Marina Fernandez Ferri is a creative producer and director based in New York with experience producing narrative and documentary films, including Cannes award-winning documentary Rafael Guastavino: Architect of New York, by Eva Vizcarra; La Noche Buena, the first US narrative short film shot in Cuba after the embargo, or FICG premiered Juan of the Witches by Andrew Houchens. Her work as producer starts in Spain, creating compelling content for TV. She followed her passion for filmmaking moving to NY and becoming an active member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective organization which she collaborated for her directorial debut of Temblor, exploring the feelings of an outsider in a foreign land. In 2019 she launched her company Brisa Pictures and co-produced Son of Monarchs, by Alex Gambis, line produced No Land's Man, by Mostofa Farooki. She is a Senior Producer for Branded Content at Univision Así Studios.
Maria Linares
A native of Colombia, the multi-talented Maria Linares has composed music for a vast array of projects, including for film, documentaries, theater, and television, where her songs have been featured on television shows and web series. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, as well as a master’s degree from New York University’s prestigious Scoring for Film and Multimedia program. In 2014 she founded Fiona Records, a music production house that creates music for film, series, animation and documentaries for production companies such as: Encantos Media, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Nickelodeon and Telemundo in various countries in Latin America and the United States. She recently scored: “Higuita, the way of the scorpion” for Netflix, directed by: Luis Ara about the life of the soccer legend René Higuita and Matrioshka a feature film by director: Jorge Forero. Her song "Nuestro one se embolató" from the Susana y Elvira series was licensed in more than 10 countries for different media. In 2019, Cinemateca de Bogotá, commissioned her the original music for their inaugural concert, her work has been performed by Orquesta filarmónica de bogotá, Orquesta filarmónica de EAFIT among others in the most representative theaters such as: Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santodomingo, Teatro Metropolitano de Medellín. As a songwriter and vocalist, Maria´s song have been licensed for different sorts of film projects and she has been invited to perform in the Latin Grammy award winning algum like “Ancestras” by Petrona Martinez. María Linares is recognized as one of the most outstanding composers of her generation in music for audiovisual media in Colombia. She works with different musical genres, as well as formats that range from orchestral, fusion to electronic; always looking for that unique sound that arises from collaborating with the creative team of each project. Her versatility and ability to compose incidental music and original songs is one of her strengths. She has been invited as a keynote speaker to important film festivals, markets and conferences for her work as a composer and cultural manager: Cartagena International Film Festival, Bogotá music market, Indiebo, Centro Festival, Villa del cine Festival, Bucaramanga Film Festival, Bogotá Audiovisual market among others. Maria is a Founding member and former president of Mucine (Colombian Association of film music composers) and co- chair of Women in Music Colombia and part of the Alliance of Women Film composers (AWFC) and voting member of the Recording Academy and Latin Recording Academy since 2023.
Ana María Hernández
Ana María Hernández (Ph.D. Comparative Literature, New York University) specializes on interdisciplinary studies in the humanities, and directs the Latin American Studies liberal arts option and the Spanish/English Translation major at LaGuardia College of the City University of New York, where she chaired the Humanities Department for many years. Since 2005, she has been associated with the Cuba Project at the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies (CUNY) where she coordinates talks on Cuban art, film, music and literature. She has co-written and co-administered three awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the development and enrichment of Latin American Studies at LaGuardia, including a website on the African Roots of Latin American Music. Her publications have focused on Julio Cortázar, Horacio Quiroga, Julio Herrera y Reissig, Felisberto Hernández, Nicolás Guillén and filmmaker and screenwriter Arturo Infante. Her most recent publications include annotated editions of Fantoches 1926: Folletín Moderno por Once Escritores Cubanos; an annotated anthology of the stories of Felisberto Hernández, Las Hortensias y Otros Cuentos, and an analytical edition of the monumental anti-slavery novel by Cirilo Villaverde Cecilia Valdés o La Loma del Angel. (1882). She has joined the juries of the HFFNY, TAFFNY and LIFFY film festival over the past decade, and is a frequent contributor to Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, and a presenter at the Cervantes Institute of New York, and the Cuban Cultural Center of New York.