We wrap up Hispanic Heritage Month with a motivating story of one of our own striving to change our on-screen portrayals, proving that where there is a will, drive and hard work will find a way. You may have seen Jeff Lima playing diverse roles on popular network shows, but the talented actor is concerned about the perception of Latinos on film and TV and is using his own money to encourage positive images through the creation of the Jeff Lima Production Award, a grant he started five years ago.
We spoke with Lima about the current state of Latino characters in the media, and his motivation to make a positive impact.

Jeff Lima, is a Puerto Rican actor best known for roles on NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” HBO’s “Show Me a Hero” and the award-winning film, “Half Nelson” starring Ryan Gosling. He has created the Jeff Lima Production Award – a $10,000 scholarship – that will go to a current NYU Tisch Grad Film thesis student (or recent alum) to fund a short film that advances the Latino presence on screen. The recipient will have up to two years to complete their short film. The award is now entering its fifth year. He founded the award to further shift the depiction of the Latinx experience on screen in a direction that accurately represents his community. He hopes the award will continue to mobilize filmmakers to create work that is imbued with cultural specificity.

Sunny Hostin, Andrea Navedo, and Alana de la Garza have served as past judges for the award. Previous winning films for this prize have been selected to screen at prestigious film festivals including SXSW, Palm Springs International Short Fest, and Nashville Film Festival, to name a few.

HOMBRE: What is the The Jeff Lima Production Award?
JL: It’s an annual scholarship I started in 2017. It’s a $10,000. grant for a grad film student or a recent alum who could have graduated within 5 years of an award year. The award seeks to be an incentive for writers. We need to see our stories told more than we do now. 

H: Where is it presented?
JL: It’s exclusive at New York University. I saw a lot of talent that had come out of NYU so the institution did some of the vetting for me.

H: What is the criteria?
JL: We ask for an artistic statement that explains what are those elements that advance the Latinx depiction. I also look for market validation which is a skill set that filmmakers should start to refine when they’re in grad school. We need to see if their 10 or 20 minute short can be developed into a feature.
When panelists judge the films they should be able to ask, how do we develop this into something bigger and validate this criteria.  It should have a market beyond a niche community.

H: Why is the grant exclusive to NYU?
JL: I’m an actor first, and when I started acting some of my first films were graduate short films from the University. There I met some of the most brilliant, best read scholars who happened to be Black. To this day I still have close friendships with them.  Whenever I have industry specific questions they are open to giving me hours of their time and giving me access to their industry colleagues, so that made it easier for me to choose New York University. 

H: How are winners selected?
JL: We have a panel of industry professionals and we look at the screenplay. It’s important that these scripts have cultural specificity, that it goes beyond dominoes on the table,  or the Virgin Mary on the counter. We’re so past that. We’re looking for substance in the dialogues that shades light on who we are beyond the typical stuff we’ve seen for decades. 

H: Is it difficult to find a winner?
JL: At NYU it’s always hard to pick a recipient because they do it well. Beyond the screenplay we ask for an artistic statement about what the director or writer does to advance the Latinx presence on screen. We also look at a budget, and the last thing is the market validation. If someone saw the film and wanted to develop into a two hour feature, is that possible?
And we need to reference the work. What movie is this short film similar to, so any financier can see there is promise here. How do we start to develop this into a feature film? 

H: How do people submit their entries?
JL: Every December the Chairperson at NYU circulates the information to their current graduate students and alumni who graduated within 5 years. The submissions we get are modest but it’s indicative of the small Latin community at NYU.
Right now there is an Argentinian Chairperson at the NYU Film School, Julia Solomonoff, so I’m hoping a lot of aspiring Latino filmmakers see Julia at the head of this prestigious program in North America and think to themselves, ‘I can do this too.’

H: On a personal level, what are some of the projects you’re working on?
JL: I still exist in the NBC “Chicago Fire” universe, they haven’t killed off my character just yet. But I am beginning to write, with the hope of producing.  This one Grant that I have is just one piece of many that I need to do, and that every other Latin artist has to do.
We have to do a lot more than one thing in the arts and I am exploring what those other avenues can be. 

H: Why is it important for you to have created this Grant?
JL: Something I noticed very early on when I was auditioning is that I was trying out for the same roles. The kid that gets in trouble, the kid that gets out of jail,  and I guess I got better at playing that role because I was getting it so often, but it’s very limiting.  I would love to live in a world where there are Latin engineers depicted on screen. Right now there’s an influx of artists, a lot of them Latin. I would hope that in a few years we see the needle really move, that we see Latin characters that are outside the mold that we have been  acclimated to.

For more information on the Jeff Lima Production Award click here

Jeff Lima photographed in studio exclusively for HOMBRE by Johnny Rodriguez