THE ACTING LESSON Named Winner of HBO/NYILFF Film Competition

In addition to receiving the $15,000 grand prize, an HBO creative executive will serve as a mentor to Peláez and consult during the production of the winning script to film. The short, which is being shot in the Miami area and co-directed by Peláez and Nicholas Calzada, will be exhibited during screenings at the New York International Film Festival, August 13-19, In New York City.

"I've wanted to jump into film work for a while now but couldn't imagine where to begin," said Peláez. "I'm thrilled that the NYILFF and everybody at HBO have given me this opportunity and I can't wait to cannonball into the most creative pool of people working today."

A graduate of the American Academy for the Dramatic Arts in New York City, Peláez received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for her solo play, Rum & Coke, which she's performed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and off-Broadway in New York City. Featured by Ted Koppel on a NIGHTLINEFriday Night Special along with her family, she became the first PS-NBC performer to sign a talent contract with the network and was a contributor on the Nightline/PBS co-production Life 360. Peláez has been featured in several independent films including A Very Serious Person by Charles Busch. Her collaboration with Pablo Cano in City Beneath the Sea, a play for marionettes, premiered at MOCA in Miami and was part of Art Basel in 2006. Her second collaboration with Cano, The Seven Wonders of the Modern World, also played at MOCA in 2011. Most recently she completed her second play Fake and was cast in Steven Soderbegh's upcoming film A Bitter Pill. Currently, Peláez is developing a series of one-act plays called Loteria and her bilingual web series Julia.

Co-director Nicholas Calzada is a graduate of Yale University and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. A writer/director of films, documentaries and commercials, his short films have been shown at festivals in five continents. He is currently in development on his first feature film Sunset Bakery. Calzada is also a junior director at the commercial Production Company Magnet Filmworks, where he has directed a number of television and web spots.

HBO has been the presenting sponsor of the New York International Latino Film Festival for the past 13 years. The HBO/NYILFF Short Film Competition, created in 2004, seeks to foster films by Latino filmmakers and /or about the Latino experience.

Launched in 1999, the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) is now the premier Urban Latino film event in the country. The NYILFF's mission is to showcase the works of the hottest emerging Latino filmmaking talent in the U.S. and Latin America, offer expansive images of the Latino experience, and celebrate the diversity and spirit of the Latino community. Programming includes the flagship film festival in NYC, new music and art showcases, family and community events, scholarships for aspiring filmmakers, and a nationally recognized short film competition in partnership with HBO. The NYILFF is the only film event to have had the endorsement of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's NYC Latin Media and Entertainment Commission since its formation in 2003.

Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. and the world's most successful pay TV service, providing the two television services -- HBO® and Cinemax® -- to approximately 93 million subscribers worldwide. The services offer the most popular subscription video-on-demand products, HBO On Demand^® and Cinemax On Demand^® as well as HBO GO^® and MAX GO^®, HD feeds and multiplex channels. Internationally, HBO branded television networks, along with the subscription video-on-demand products HBO On Demand and HBO GO, bring HBO services to over 60 countries. HBO programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide.