Join us for a conversation with Abia Castillo (Huesera, Tribeca award-winner) and Diego Rabasa (Sexto Piso publisher, producer of Ashes), co-writers of “Ashes,” directed by Diego Luna and adapted from Brenda Navarro’s acclaimed novel. Following a young woman’s journey from Mexico to Spain in search of her mother, the film premiered in Special Screenings at Cannes this year. Castillo and Rabasa will share insights into adapting a beloved novel for the screen, writing character-driven stories rooted in personal experience, and the creative choices that shape how a difficult story gets told.
Abia Castillo
Writer, Screenwriter
Â
Diego Rabasa
Writer, Journalist, Documentarian
Â
Abbey White
The Hollywood Reporter
About Abia Castillo:
She co-wrote the feature film Huesera “The bone woman” with director Michelle Garza Cervera. For this film, she won the Nora Ephron Award (for female screenwriters) at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for the 2023 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in Screenplay. She has worked in TV project development, teaching, animation, and creative writing, notably authoring the historical novel My lips will not be closed (Penguin Random House, 2021). She is currently writing for TV series and feature films in both Mexico and the United States.
About Diego Rabasa:
Diego Rabasa founded Sexto Piso 2002 and he remained one the editors there until 2020, a period in which he published more than 700 books from more than 40 different countries.
As a journalist and documentarian, he has covered human rights issues such as infant migration, forced disappearances and juvenile incarceration among other topics. His work has been published and shown in media and festivals such as The Guardian, The New York Times, El PaÃs, The New Museum and the Morelia Film Festival, among many more.
In 2020 he joined the production company Perro Azul where he’s currently a partner/Producer. He lives in Mexico City where he has a second hand bookshop and a cevicherÃa.
About Abbey White:
Abbey White is a contributing writer and the former associate editor/news writer for The Hollywood Reporter’s digital team, where they reported, edited and web produced features spanning film, TV, awards, theater, animation, children’s & family, inclusion and more. A Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY alum, they’ve been recognized as a 2022 Curve Emerging Journalist, ASME Awards finalist, National A&E Journalism Awards winner and GLAAD Media Award nominee, among other honors.
IMPORTANT DETAILS:
This panel will take place virtually over ZOOM. Ticket purchasers will receive a ZOOM link to this panel 2 hours before the published start time. If you don’t already have the ZOOM app, please make sure to download on your device before the panel start time.
If you purchase an All-Access Pass for our September Festival events prior to the date of this panel, you will also receive admission to this virtual panel, included as part of your pass.
If you are a current Annual Member of NFMLA and haven’t registered for this panel, please email info@nfmla.org. If you are not an Annual Member of NFMLA and would like to join, you can become a member here.
