Akiva Peñaloza
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Akiva Penaloza is a writer/director from Queens, New York. She attended
the American Film Institute as a Screenwriting Fellow where she studied
under the tutelage of Anna Thomas ("Frida," "El Norte.") At AFI, she
won the coveted Target Foundation Award personally selected by Academy
Award Winner Diane Keaton. In 2006, she won $10,000 in funding to
direct her short film, "La Chiva," from the National Association of
Latino Independent Producers. "La Chiva" went on to win Best Short at
the Long Island International Film Festival and was featured on Channel
13's shorts program. She also won Best Screenplay in ScriptShark's
annual contest with her feature Western, "Brazen." She is also the
recipient of the Urban Artist Initiative/New York City fellowship and a
selectee of Tribeca Film Festival's All Access program, where she
represented her award-winning romantic comedy script, "Hannah Henri."
"Hannah Henri" also received Best Screenplay honors at the Newfest Film
Festival in New York City. In 2012, Akiva completed the short film
version of "Hannah Henri." She has begun pre-production on her feature,
"The Vanquished." She and her writing partners at Dame 51 Productions are developing a horror feature, Working Title: La Lucha, the Possession of Josie Valdez.