Anna La Chocha

About me:

My short film, "The Turkey" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival's Critic's Week in May and also screened at Tribeca and Clermont Ferrand, 2008.




My feature script, Sweet 15/The Papaya Factory was a Narative Feature at IFP's NO BORDERS 2008!

My documentary, "GAY AND SO WHAT? in CUBA" just premiered at OUTFEST 2008 in Los Angeles and will start touring the festivals.

My feature film script, "THE PAPAYA FACTORY" was selected for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival's ON TRACK program.


Anna's travel documentary for Canal Plus on the Dinah Shore Weekend is currently touring the world!

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Biography of Anna Margarita Albelo, FILMMAKER:

Cuban-American, Anna Margarita Albelo is a globetrotting artist, filmmaker, journalist and cultural activist. Her work encompasses narrative, documentary and experimental film and has been screened in over 40 international film festivals. Anna is also a regular collaborator for Canal Plus France for whom she has written and directed the short fiction film, "The Turkey" (Cannes Film Festival's CRITIC'S WEEK, 2008), as well as, several original documentaries on gay and lesbian culture exploring Cuba, Palm Springs and Los Angeles.

In the past few years, Anna has had 5 retrospectives of her films in Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Turin and Ladyfest Berlin. She was a semi-finalist for Sundance’s Screenwriting Workshop, served on the Jury at the Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and was a Narrative Honoree at the IFP New York's Project Involve. While in New York, she co-directed with famed performance artist, Penny Arcade and Steve Zehentner the feature documentary, "Queer Realities and Cultural Amnesia", which won the prestigious Audience Award at OUTFEST, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Her feature coming-of-age script, "Sweet 15/The Papaya Factory," recently selected for IFP New York's NO BORDERS program has also participated in the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival's ON TRACK program as well as, the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival's, ALL ACCESS program for Narratives . The film is currently in development with producer Jamin O'Brien and Amy Slotnick, Worldview Entertainment.

A multifaceted visual artist in terms of her expression, Anna works with film, video, photography, installations, performances, and sound. Her experimental work has been featured by A.S.T.A.R.T.I. for Audiovisual Arts, inaugurated Outfest’s experimental category, “Platinum shorts”, and was selected for Gallery Loevenbruck’s Art Critic’s Choice exposition by Francois Jonquet (art critic of Liberation). An activist of media crossover, Anna works to underline the need to push the boundaries of the formal rules of conventional television and film through the integration of visual, audio, and tonal experimentations.

Anna is a graduate of Florida State University and attended film school in London as a Bernard Sliger scholarship winner. Since 1993, she has been living and working in Paris, France and is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian and French. She is a fanatical supporter of film festivals, women's interest, French wines, and her "education through comedy" principle.

Anna currently lives in Los Angeles.
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Biography of La Chocha, STAR Journalist, Host, and Performer:

Social cameleon made for home and travel. Great side-kick and partner in crime, said to be an innovative humanitarian and friend to all animals. My dream is to see Napoleon's tomb in Paris where his imperial coffin floats on a sea of gold.