HBO Features Series Following Latina's Journeys to 15

HBO Features Series Following Latina’s Journeys to 15

HBO is down with the culture.

The premium cable and satellite television network, HBO along with HBO Latino, will be releasing a series of four short documentaries that reveal how different Latina women celebrate their fifteenth birthday. For many people in the Latin community the celebration of a fifteenth birthday, or a quinceañera, represents a teenager’s transition to adulthood.

There are huge names involved with the production of this project, the short films are directed by Emmy winner Matthew O’Neill and Mexican musician Thalía Sodi, and executive produced by music executive, Tommy Mottola.

15: A Quinceañera Story follows five women from diverse backgrounds who share different experiences growing up as Latin women in America. These are stories that need to be told and reflect the pressures undergone by teenagers of color trying to navigate through a society where social and political standards and expectations seem set against them.

In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sodi, O’Neill and Mottola all share the importance of this series; “The featured young women are examples of the breadth and diversity of the Latina experience in America. We’re proud to celebrate them and their communities as they contend with the complicated realities of growing up in America today,” said O’Neil. Thalía Sodi also gave some perspective as Latin woman; “As a Latina, I’m proud to share our culture and shine a spotlight on these dynamic, talented and beautiful young women featured in these four films.” Mottola adds, “These young women are fierce and determined and represent the rising generation of American Latinas who are helping define the future of our country.”

The five women featured include Zoey, a young a trans woman living in L.A, Rosi, an American with Immigrant parents who has to have her quinceañera in Havana, Cuba because her family members cannot get a visa to the United States. There is also Ashley, an amateur boxer whose struggles with close figures in her life being deported and lastly Jackie and Nina, two girls who have mutual affinities and share a joint celebration.

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the four films with premiere consecutively from Dec. 19-22 on both HBO and HBO Latino.

Source: Latina