Hosted by WIFT Australia’s Queensland chapter, the virtual masterclass will feature Argentinian-Australian director Leticia Cáceres in conversation with Mexican filmmaker Katina Medina Mora.
“We’re excited to be able to share this conversation with a worldwide audience,” says Karolina Berkell-Kirk. “Leticia and Katina are two dynamic forces and their career trajectories are unusual. We believe the masterclass will provide a lot of inspiration for anyone looking to break the mould or for those prepared to carve their own creative pathway through a sometimes archaic system.”
Leticia Cáceres is an acclaimed Australian theatre director who has transitioned to also working in film and television. Most recently she directed six episodes of the drama series Bump for the Australian streamer Stan.
Katina Medina Mora’s background is as a writer and director of indie feature films in Mexico. From directing her first feature, LuTo, on a budget of $10000, she is now directing top-rating TV shows for Netflix, including Emily in Paris, Firefly Lane and Selena, but continues to develop projects independently.
Mora will share some of her journey from the independent Mexican film industry, to shooting with Lily Collins in Paris. She will also talk about how she works in episodic context with a creative team versus building a team from the ground up as a film director, as well as the relationship between director and producer in post-production.
Some of the burning questions to be discussed include: who gets to direct big budget shows for the large streamers? How can you navigate career transitions at different levels when you are pigeonholed as a certain kind of creative?
Excellence in Craft is an ongoing series created and produced by WIFT Queensland’s Karolina Berkell-Kirk. Previous Excellence in Craft guests have included editor Jill Billcock, cinematographer Many Walker and director Niki Caro.
The event is a WIFT Australia collaboration with the global network Women In Film and Television International (WIFTI). It is also supported by the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) and the Australian Writer’s Guild (AWG).
EVENT: Leticia Cáceres in conversation with Katina Medina Mora.
TIME / DATE:
Mexico: 3 pm, Thursday 3 March
London: 9 pm, Thursday 3 March
Brisbane: 7 am, Friday 4 March
Sydney: 8 am, Friday 4 March
COST: Free
REGISTER: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4yckjVXKQVK_f8IWqfSQgA
GUEST BIOS
LETICIA CÁCERES
Leticia is a filmmaker and a multi award-winning stage director. Leticia has directed two blocks of Stan’s hit original series Bump (series 1 and 2), produced by Roadshow Rough Diamond. Bump broke viewing records for Stan in its first season and went on to screen globally through broadcasters The CW (USA), BBC iPlayer (UK) HBOMax (Latin America) and Canada’s CBC Gem. In 2022 Leticia is set to direct the stage adaption of Anne Deveson’s memoir Tell Me I’m Here for Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney.
KATINA MEDINA MORA
Born in Pittsburgh in 1980, Katina was raised and lives in México City. Katina studied at The London Film School with a Master in Direction. Her first film, LuTo, shot in 15 days on a micro-budget was selected for Los Cabos Film Festival and won a prize for Digital Distribution, was presented at other festivals. Now it’s on Netflix worldwide. For TV, she directed two episodes on the TV series The Search for Netflix. She also directed five episodes on the TV series Selena, a number 1 show on Netflix, and last year she directed two episodes for Emily in Paris, also a number 1 show for Netflix and nominated for the Golden Globes in 2020 and the Emmys in 2021. Recently she directed two episodes of Firefly Lane, also for Netflix. Her third feature film La Espera is shooting this March, 2022, produced by the well-known producer Inna Payan with the Oscar-nominated Marina de Tavira attached. She is currently developing her fourth feature Will, set in Texas, with Ricardo Chavira attached as the lead.
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