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From popular franchises to brand new worlds of exploration, science fiction and fantasy stories are more popular than ever. Check out our list of the best and brightest new and upcoming movies and series.

New and Upcoming Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Ana Laura Calderón is a Mexican/Spanish film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Member of AMEE (Mexican Editor's Guild) and Honorary member of ANAC (Associazione Nazionale Autori Cinematografici). She is the director and producer of the award-winning "MEZQUITE'S HEART", now on HBO, the editor of "AMARAICA", also on HBO max, and the producer of "CHILANGOLANDIA", film nominated in 2021 for seven CANACINE annual awards (National Chamber of the Film Industry).

Ana Laura graduated from the prestigious EICTV (Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV) in Cuba and has a Bachelor's Degree in Cinematography at CCC (Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica) in Mexico.

Ana Laura's first foray into feature directing and producing was with the documentary "THE ISLAND OF YOUTH" (2007), which won best documentary at the Riviera Maya Film Festival, Special Mention at Zanate Documentary Film Festival (Mexico), 3 awards at International Documentary Film Festival Santiago Álvarez (Cuba), nominated to the Silver Godess for Best Documentary (PECIME- Mexico) and was an official selection at the Morelia International Film Festival, DocsBarcelona, the Memory Film Festival - Iberoamerican Documentaries (Mexico), DOCSDF (Mexico), the Trieste Film Festival (Italy) and Toulouse (France).

The first narrative feature that Ana Laura directed was "DRAWING THE SKY," released in 2018 by VIDEOCINE (Mexico) & PANTELION (USA). It tells the story of Sofia, who is an expert in celestial mechanics--tracking the routes of satellites in space--yet has no idea what her path is on earth. After a storm ruins her hopes of completing her work, she unexpectedly meets Raul, a volcanologist, who teaches her to read the signs and not to doubt herself when the universe is aligned.

"MEZQUITE'S HEART" (Mexico 2020), Ana Laura's second narrative feature, tells the story of Lucía, a Yoreme (indigenous) girl in Northern Mexico, who dreams of healing her father's broken heart by playing the harp, which is traditionally played only by men in her community.

MEZQUITE premiered at the 43rd Sao Paulo Film Festival in October 2019. Thus far, it has also been an official selection of the following festivals around the world, among others, where it has won many awards: the Cinequest Film & VR Festival (California); the San Diego Latino Film Festival (SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN REPRESENTATION); WorldFest Houston (REMI AWARD GOLD FEATURES - Coming of Age); IV Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos - BannabáFest, Panamá (PREMIO A LA MEJOR FICCIÓN); the WoFF: World of Film International Festival Glasgow (BEST FEMALE PERSPECTIVE, FEATURE COMPETITION); IFF Schlingel (CLUB OF FESTIVAL AWARDS, CATEGORY: CHILDREN'S FILM); and 2020 Women's Film Festival San Diego (AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD, BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE), FIFEM Festival International du Film pour Enfants de Montreal Canada. (MONTREAL GRAND PRIX), 38 BUFF International Film Festival Malmö, Sweden (THE CITY OF MALMÖ CHILDREN'S FILM AWARD), BJX Bajío International Film Festival Guanajuato, México (PRESS AWARD), 24 Olympia International Film Festival, Greece (BEST FEATURE DIRECTOR) and 19th International Debut Film Festival "Spirit of Fire", Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (SPECIAL MENTION FROM THE JURY).

Mezquite will be shown on HBO Max for a two-year period starting in July 2021.

Ana Laura has directed and produced three short films: "TO DIE" (2009), "ALWAYS ON MY MIND" (2013), "EMOTIONS" (2014) and recently "TERRANOVA" (2017).

Highlights of Ana Laura's work as an editor include Aarón Fernández's films "USED PARTS," (Mexico/France/Spain 2007), which won awards at film festivals in Guadalajara, Montreal and Havana, and "THE EMPTY HOURS" (Mexico 2013), which had its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival (Spain) and won awards at the Morelia International Film Festival (Mexico) and at the Tokyo Film Festival (BEST ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION).

Ana Laura also edited Fabrizio Prada's "WRITTEN WITH BLOOD" (Mexico 2010), an award-winner at the Yellow Fever Film Festival (Ireland), and Fez Noriega's "INTRODUCING LAURA" (2010). She also edited and co-produced Christopher Hool's "CAMBIO DE RUTA" (Mexico 2014) and Miguel Garzon's documentary feature "TAYOS" (Ecuador/Spain/Mexico 2017). She worked as an editor in the series "RUN COYOTE RUN". Recently, she edited two chapters of the series "100 YEARS WITH JUAN RULFO" by Juan Carlos Rulfo, two chapters of Paramount's action series "R" and the features "NAHUI," directed by Gerardo Tort, and "AMARAICA," an American production by the director Tim Sparks.

Awards

Ana Laura Calderón

Mexican Cinema Journalists

International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience SCHLiNGEL

BUFF International Film Festival

BannabáFest - Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos de Panamá

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