MOCTESUMA ESPARZA
PARTNER
Moctesuma Esparza is an award-winning filmmaker, producer and entrepreneur. He is well known for his contributions to the movie industry and commitment to creating opportunities for Latinos in entertainment. As a partner in the highly successful Esparza-Katz Productions with Robert Katz, he has worked with stars such as Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Andy Garcia, Jimmy Smits, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall and Halle Berry.
Esparza’s latest film “Walkout” for HBO, tells the true story of the Chicano student uprising in East Los Angeles in 1968. Other films produced by Esparza include: Price of Glory (2000), Selma, Lord, Selma (1998), Selena (1997), The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1994) and The Milagro Beanfield War (1988) among others. In addition to producing films, he has established a chain of movie theater mega-plexes -- Maya Cinemas, which offers first-run Hollywood movies in under served urban and rural areas.
CAROLYN CALDERA DEFANTI
PARTNER
Carolyn began her career as an agent in training at Camden Artists. She later moved on to work at Esparza/Katz Productions, where she eventually became VP of Creative Affairs & Production. She was the Production Executive on the film “Gettysburg” (1992), Teddy Roosevelt and The Roughriders, Cisco Kid (1994), Avenging Angel (1995) and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She also went on to Co- Produce a few films with Esparza/Katz, such as The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca and Selena.
In 1999 Carolyn Caldera and Jean-Luc De Fanti teamed up to form Caldera/De Fanti Entertainment a management and production company with an eye to further advance multicultural participation in Film/Television and Music. After successfully helping building careers for many Latino writers/actors and international directors she took some time off to produce a film in Europe with French Director Mathias Ledoux, Three Blind Mice.