The Imagen Awards set a heroic goal every year, in trying to find positive role models and fine performances hiding in plain sight—in feature films, on TV, in web series. It’s no small task, and we could complain endlessly about the structure, selection process, and omissions that occur every year. But the fact is, at least the Imagen Foundation is trying to sort through the endless tsunami of bad television, direct-to-DVD goreporn and what passes for “performance” on the interwebs to make some kind of statement through a limited and sometimes painfully narrow selection of nominees and winners.
That being said…it was good to see Esai Morales and Gun Hill Road honored with two awards last week. And it was a little sad and ironic to see two of the five widely varied television awards go to performances or programming that had long been cancelled by the time the awards rolled around (In this case, Freddy Rodriguez on CBS’ doomed-from-the-start spy dramady CHAOS, and NBC’s admirable but under-supported Law & Order: Los Angeles. Though not separating TV movies from ongoing series led to some glaring gaps in attention…and we still don’t understand what a “Best On-Air Advertising” is.
In any event, there was an event last week, when much of the L.A. Latino entertainment community attended the awards ceremony. Esai Morales (Gun Hill Road, Los Americans) Lupe Ontiveros (Los Americans), Hilda L. Solis, the U.S. Secretary of Labor and former congresswoman, Carlos Gómez (The Glades), Laz Alonso (Breakout Kings), Lisa Vidal (The Event) and Constance Marie (Switched at Birth) were among the attendees, and all of them looked stunning, as usual–how can they help it? And incomplete as it all may have been, it was nice to get together to celebrate some of what’s good in Latino Hollywood this year.
Here’s the full list of winners:
Best Primetime Television Program or Movie-of-the-Week: Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC)
Best Actor/Television: Freddy Rodriguez, CHAOS (CBS)
Best Actress/Television: Martha Higareda, Lies in Plain Sight (Lifetime Television)
Best Supporting Actor/Television: Carlos Gómez, The Glades (A&E)
Best Supporting Actress/Television: Eva La Rue, CSI: Miami (CBS)
Best Young Actress/Television: Selena Gomez, Wizards of Waverly Place (Disney Channel)
Best Children’s Programming: Dora The Explorer (Nickelodeon)
Best Documentary/Television: The Longoria Affair (Latino Public Broadcasting)
Best National Informational Program: Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One (WGBH)
Best Local Informational Program: Eye on Our Community (KCBS-TV)
Best On-Air Advertising: Dora 10th Anniversary Campaign (Nickelodeon)
Best Variety or Reality Show: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)
Best Feature Film: Gun Hill Road (Motion Film Group/SimonSays Entertainment)
Best Actor/Feature Film: Esai Morales, Gun Hill Road (Motion Film Group/SimonSays Entertainment)
Best Actress/Feature Film: Michelle Rodriguez, Tropico de Sangre (Maya Entertainment)
Best Supporting Actor/Feature Film: Miguel Sandoval, Spoken Word (New Mexico Media Partner/Luminaria Films)
Best Supporting Actress/Feature Film: Adriana Barraza, From Prada to Nada (Pantelion Films/Lionsgate)
Best Theatrical Short or Student Film: The Big Deal (Lucy Rodriguez)
Best Web Series: Chismex (mun2)
Photos: Courtesy of Lorena Alvarado
