Season 1 – Film Locos – Short Films

Our Mission

Film Locos’ mission for this project was to connect with filmmakers from around the UK with Latin American backgrounds and to achieve the remarkable feat of producing 6 short films in 6 days, shooting in London and Oxford. These stories were crafted to authentically and powerfully represent the British Latino community.

Successful Releases

The films successfully completed festival runs, achieving awards, and during 2022-2023, we toured them around the country. Screenings were held in Bangor at Pontio, Manchester at Instituto Cervantes, Sheffield at the Migrants Matter Festival, and several locations in London. Notably, at St Gabriel’s College, we had 140 attendees from the community, including students and ambassadors from the Bolivian, Brazilian, and Dominican Republic embassies.

"Our stories as Latinos matter. It’s also crucial to bring an open mind and diversity of cast and storytelling to the equation. Nothing by accident," said Victor Rios, CEO/founder of Film Locos.

Film Locos Associates Season 1

Raquel Arraes

Associate Producer - London

Raquel Arraes is a professional actor born in São Paulo, Brazil.

She’s been in the industry for over 20 years, graduated from Incenna theatre, tv and cinema School in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

She contributed to many plays such as Depressions adaptation of Herta Muller’s book, Award Winner of the best play in 2011.

Also played many characters from Brecht and Nelson Rodrigues. In the tv industry has participated in big productions Game of Thrones, Red Rock and contributed in the independent film Irish and British industry. 

She produced, directed, wrote and acted in her first short film called I am Frida Kahlo which was awarded Best Experimental Film by Falcon International Film Festival and selected for Lift OFF Film Festival.

She is Project Manager of Film Locos and hosts the CommunEating Program/ Podcast of Film Locos Youtube Channel.

She is represented by Mac & Jeal agency.

Victor
Rios

Producer

Victor Ríos, a British-Bolivian producer has worked on 15 fiction film projects and served as the main producer of the acclaimed Film Locos short film season. These six shorts, produced in just six days in London and Oxford, toured Bangor, Manchester, Sheffield, Oxford, and London, garnering significant press attention for Film Locos, a company he founded and leads.

His credits include producing award-winning shorts like “500” (Silk Road Films Awards Cannes, 2021), “Hands On” (London Directors Awards, 2022), and “Pretty Fly For A Doña” (Dreamer’s Short Film Festival, 2022), along with others like “Thou Shalt Not Seduce Nuns!” (2023), “Beto & Nena” (2023), and “El Bananero” (2024).

Victor’s acting roles span “Mallorca Files,” “Officer Nogueira” for Amazon Prime, “4Stories: On The Edge Series 2 – BMW” for Channel 4, and notable appearances in award-winning shorts like “500” at the LA Sun Film Fest and “The Wedding Pact” at the Cannes Indonesia Film Festival. Additionally, he’s written and directed “Don’t Close The Door” at the Barons Court Theatre and is currently gearing up for his one-man show, “How British Are You,” set for an upcoming tour.

Andrea Pérez

Associate Producer - Manchester

Andrea is a producer/ filmmaker Originally from Caracas, Venezuela.

She has a Masters degree in TV Drama Production and started making films at a very young age after being inspired by the behind the scenes of  “The Matrix”. Andrea has made many short films, and she loves helping people make their films come true. Andrea’s motto in life is “It’s worth dreaming.” She’s also a screenwriter and overall creative. She’s inspired by people and by the stories of underrepresented communities.

Sammy Attalah

Associate Producer

Sammy is a versatile entertainer, trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, excelling as an actor, producer, writer, and host. Renowned for captivating performances on stage and screen, they’ve also hosted events for prestigious brands like Microsoft and Merck, as well as for the Locos Network. With a multifaceted approach to storytelling, Sammy continues to leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, engaging audiences and defying boundaries.

Rauni Barros Da Silva

Associate Film Director

A Brazilian filmmaker based in Oxford with a background in broadcasting as well as Directing film and television. He started True Vision Features, a production company based in Oxford as a way to fill a gap in short cinematic productions within Oxfordshire. Having a passion for film, untold storytelling, narrative and vivid colours, Rauni has taken inspiration from directors such as Terrence Malik and Christopher Nolan as well as Cinematographers like Emmanuel Lubezki.

Mauro Pedretti

Associate Filmmaker

Mauro was born in Peru but grew up in Italy. He studied and worked in Rome as a digital content creator for the corporate world.

Following his passion for cinema, he moved to London to study filmmaking, where he has been living for over two years.

Karlina Veras

Associate Writer

British Latinx writer and film director from the Dominican Republic. She’s the author of the short story collection Yunyún (pa ‘ la calor) which has been translated into Italian as Yunyun (granite contro il calore) and in English as Sky Juice (keeps you cool), the short story collection The method of chulimameo, the novella La Mansa and the book of poems Blubber Girl. Her work has been published in the literary magazines Perro Negro, Mookychick, Candela Review and Powderzine. Her stories and poems have been included in various anthologies, such as Poets versus Sexual Harassment, Lips of Unfamiliar Skin, and Archipiélago Inverosímil. Karlina has written several film projects, including the short films, The One in the Mirror, La Viralata, Pretty Fly for a Doña and On the 9th, of which the last two have been directed by her. She has experience in other fields such as visual arts, music, advertising and media broadcasting. She lives in London since 2006.

CORTNEY STOWERS

Associate Filmmaker

Cortney is a Polynesian Italian director from new Zealand. He is currently a commercial Director at Preen and his online content has over 30 million views and counting, which is 10 million fewer than what his brother finds impressive