Hispanic Heritage Awards

STEPHANIE

Our first honoree is at the helm of some of the largest media projects in the world. As the President of Physical, Post-Production, Visual Effects, and Animation for Marvel Studios, she's been responsible for bringing to life iconic characters like Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther. But she's also been instrumental in changing how Latinos and non-Latinos alike see ourselves on screen. Let's learn more about our 2022 Vision Award Honoree, Victoria Alonso.

VICTORIA

I think it's one of the greatest honors that one can have that your people in a way, see you, celebrate you, and they realize it's worth a conversation if you would. You know, in Argentina we received the films ten years later. During the military dictatorship, it was very selective what we saw. But the minute that I saw film, it was a moment where nothing that was going in the outside world could seep in. And for a child of the military dictatorship and a teenager there's something really special about that. I met at Alaska Airlines, my friend Allison Stone, she said "you'd be great in production. You need to talk to my friend Carla Corwin. She's a First AD. You'd be great in production." And that's how Carla... Was the one that got me in as a production assistant, which I knew nothing on how to do it. I'm very curious and very chatty. So I would go and I would find out, like, So what does this do and what does that camera do? And I was fascinated by the technology of it because I had never seen it. So I did five years of commercials, and I learned a lot in that from one thing went to the other, and then I started doing films. "Spider-Man" was done by Sony, not us. "X-Men" was done by Fox, not us. So we were not in that conversation as the MCU, nor were we the MCU. I had already been working as a visual effects producer, and Lou D'Esposito and I were working on a movie at Sony. I had been traveling all over the world, and I, I had said that I just wanted to do films in LA, that was my one non-negotiable. He said to me, "Hey, I'm going to go do this." And I said, "I don't care. I don't care what it is. I don't care who you're doing with. Where does it shoot? Does it shoot in LA?" "Yes." "Just give me the address and I'll go and do it." We were a group of people with a bond company that we had money from a bank, and the bond company had to ensure we spent it properly, that we could make a movie called "Iron Man". And then if that went well, you will do the other movie called "The Incredible Hulk". And if that went well, you will do the other movie called "Captain

America

The First Avenger". I love the heart of a superhero film, but until our movies, I could never connect. Part of what I think is happening with our superheroes is there's a level of relating to who they are and what the journeys they're going through that are very much human, even though they may be gods or they may be some of the most powerful beings in the world. I fall in love with every project while I'm doing it. I'm quite fickle that way. I loved "Ms. Marvel" as we finished it. I loved "Thor: Love and Thunder" as we just finished it. I'm loving "She-Hulk" as we're finishing it. I love "Black

Panther

Wakanda Forever". as we're doing it. I love them, I love them. And I go deep, deep with them. I'm in the room where it happens, and that's what most of us strive to be at. There are moments where you can have a consequential influence in how the stories are told and not because what I'm doing is radically different or revolutionary or blah, blah, blah, no, it's because when you have people that are different in a room, you bring your point of view from where you come from. Visibility is a key component to feeling that you belong. And if a kid feels like they belong, half of the battle is done. And giving that to a child, and I'm not saying just to the ten year old I'm saying that to the 20 year old and the 30 year old and the 40 year old child that goes into a meeting and feels awkward and feels like they're other. They're not the same as everybody in that room. All those moments amount to "I belong". I feel like it's far more important to represent than to accept, and I do accept it on behalf of their representation. So that they can turn on PBS and say, "Oh, she looks like me."