Dear Gina, Wish You Were Here, Love Jesús

Nicole has worked with her artistic collaborator, Jorge Sermini, for 15 years. Their co-created projects range genres: from comedy, to horror, to drama. Their projects have been selected for the 2021 Frontières-Fantasia Co-Production Market, 2020 NALIP Latino Media Market, Cine Qua Non Lab Script Revision and Story Lines Labs (2021), Slamdance semifinalist (2019 - and in the top 30 entrants of that year,) and the Hubert Bals Pre-Selection (2018). They currently have a project being developed by Raven Banner/Hangar18 Media in Canada. Nicole also writes poetry and prose and had works published in “Sweet Jane” and “Southern Hum” back in the days before small print magazines either died or went digital. As a novelist, Nicole became a Hispanic Scholar Fund Fellow in 2004 when she received support for writing a novel set in 1980s Cuba, and is currently wrapping up a historic fantasy novel set in Prohibition Era New Orleans. Nicole is also a science communicator on biodiversity, a topic she is passionate about, and writes for the University of Texas at Austin’s Biodiversity Center.

Jorge has been working as a storyteller with Nicole for 15 years. Their co-created projects have been to various markets and labs, as described in Nicole’s bio. Additionally, Jorge is also a NALIP Latino Media Market Fellow as well as a producer on three microbudget independent films. Jorge is a videographer and editor, having shot and edited several local webseries in Austin, Texas, and does extensive VR work for documentaries and experimental cinema. Some of his work in VR includes “Resurrecting Vampiro,” a documentary about a Canadian Wrestler. Jorge comes from Puerto Rico, and in his personal work he is passionate about putting Puerto Rican stories into the film conversation by showing aspects of life on the island as well as in the diaspora, and bringing the hidden Afro-Latino stories of his country to the forefront. He studied opera at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, and also has his Masters Degree in Opera Performance from the University of Texas at Austin.