PRINCIPALS

Eve A. Ma, like many other independent filmmakers, is primarily self-taught. She first became interested in film ⁄ video when, in an earlier career, she found herself producing a television interview series for a cultural nonprofit she directed. After leaving the nonprofit, she decided to continue working in media.

Starting off as a producer-director of public access work, she has since honed her skills and now, her productions are accepted into international film festivals all over the world. Several, including this one, also air over national public television in the United States (PBS and others). As she puts it, I learn by making mistakes - and because I've made plenty, I've learned a lot!

A hallmark of Ma's work is its engagement with other cultures. She has been a professor of Chinese and Japanese history, has traveled to more than 20 countries, and has produced work in Spain and Peru as well as the USA. Ma speaks Spanish, French and some Mandarin as well as English, and many of her productions are in both Spanish and English.

Antonio de la Malena joined us in 2012 as our principal associate in Spain. A native of Jerez de la Frontera, a city considered to be part of the cradle of flamenco, he has been a professional flamenco singer (cantaor) since childhood.

De la Malena's interest in film comes out of his extensive experience with stage productions, for which he has acted as artistic director as well as principal cantaor, most notably in association with the dancer María del Mar Moreno.

Malena's experimental short film, Entre Silencio y Misterio, premiered in the Festival de Cortometrajes de Jerez, Spain, in 2011. Since then, he has acted as assistant to the producer-director in several of Palomino Production's works and starred in Ma's feature-length drama, Domino: Caught in the Crisis. He is the associate director for Flamenco: the Land Is Still Fertile as well as the documentary's narrator, and one of its featured singers.