Washing Elena
TFI Suppport
Logline
Set in Richmond, California, WASHING ELENA follows 31-year-old Indalia's struggle to solve the mystery surrounding her best friend Elena’s sudden death. To find answers, Indalia must confront the realities of Elena's surprising conversion to Islam, leading Indalia to challenge her own biases, vices and lingering guilt.
Maria Victoria Ponce
Screenwriter, Director
Originally from Michoacán, Mexico, Maria Victoria is a San Francisco Bay Area film director/writer who grew up in Richmond, California. She appreciates the complexity in the routine lives within poor and working-class neighborhoods, and themes of sexuality and coming of age tend to recur in her work. She is a NALIP LMM fellow, a Latino Screenwriting Project fellow, Cine Qua Non Lab fellow, and an artist resident at SFFILM FilmHouse. Her love of filmmaking and working with children came together to create, and teach an after-school filmmaking program at Grant Elementary in Richmond, California.
Vanessa Perez
Producer
Vanessa Perez began her career working in Talent Management at ICM. She went on to produce at CANANA Films (Pablo Cruz, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal). Perez was the executive in charge of production on MISS BALA, directed by Gerardo Naranjo that made waves at Cannes featured in Un Certain Regard. MISS BALA. Perez was Executive Producer on PARAISO, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 and had financial success in the box office in Mexico. Perez also Executive Produced COME OUT AND PLAY, TIFF Midnight Premiere. Perez was Associate Producer on CESAR CHAVEZ, starring Michael Peña, America Ferrera and Rosario Dawson and Executive Produced BACK HOME for Fusion Network a joint venture between ABC and UNIVISION. Through her work, Perez has been able to maximize co-production offering audiences thought provoking multicultural stories.