By LATIN HORROR recently partnered with the Official Latino Film and Arts Festival (again!) as the host of its opening night red carpet showcase at the College of the Desert in sunny and scenic Palm Desert, CA. on Halloween! Official Latino, now in its 5th year, was founded and is produced by hip-hop photographic legend Danny Hastings, whose mission is to gain added attention and exposure for US-based Latinx filmmakers and get their projects into distribution.
We proudly showcased BLOCK 1 HORROR + SCI-FI + EXPERIMENTAL with fellow media partners Latin Heat Magazine, MUSE TV, and Culturally Obsessed. Today we are delighted to featured one of the winners from the block as part of our mutual commitment of putting the spotlight on Latinos working in the horror genre: GOODNIGHT, directed and co-written by George E. Heras, who walked away with a well-deserved “BEST HORROR” film award.
The film also garnered a “BEST ACTRESS IN HORROR” award for 26 year-old Indonesian-German actress, electropop singer and model Cinta Laura Kiehl, who plays the film’s central figure Lisa Tejada. Cinta will place this award on the mantel right next to her Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards in acting and singing.
Director George E. Heras accepting the “Best Horror Film” award during the Official Latino Film & Art Festival’s horror and sci-fi block in scenic Palm Desert, CA. The opening night red carpet showcase was hosted by LATIN HORROR. Photo: Edwin Pagán.
While its participation in the Official Latino Film and Arts Festival marks the end of the film’s festival run—and leaves that stage on a grand note—the film makes its exclusive online world premiere here at LATIN HORROR, which features an amazing performance by Cinta Laura Kiehl, and a small but deft supporting cast that includes Caroline Harris, Rae Latt, and Sophia Almeida! Please watch GOODNIGHT below, and find out more about the director, cast, and crew after the jump. (view Full Screen for best experience).
In GOODNIGHT, director George E. Heras explores the effects of sleep paralysis, and source comes from the real life story of the director himself, who experienced an ongoing battle with the condition that temporary renders the victim immobile or unable to speak while falling asleep or upon waking. Heras turned his personal experience on its head when he raised $18,942 through a crowd-funding campaign in 2017 to produce the short-form narrative film that he is currently developing into an anthology horror tele-series.
GOODNIGHT owes its streamlined production value to 1st AD (and co-writer) Pedro González, its producers, Mercedes Maria and David Reyes, and cinematographers Chris Ellison and Nathaniel C. Carter.
GOODNIGHT is based on sleep paralysis. The pilot opens up following the story of Lisa Tejada’s recent episodes of sleep paralysis that have revealed glimpse of the night her mother died. Will she be able to uncover the truth or be trapped in the shadow-man’s dimension forever?
George E. Heras is a Bronx native who traveled to Los Angeles to pursue his career as a director while adding some Latin flavor to the film industry. He graduated at California State University of Los Angeles with a Bachelor’s Degree in Television, Film and Media Production and a minor in Business Management.
A nightmarish apparition stalks Lisa. 
Behind the scene on the set of GOODNIGHT.
Heras hit the industry working as a Second Unit Director for feature films such as Hummingbird (2019) & The Education of a Negro (2019). In addition to coordinating development projects for Complex Network & FuseTV, he manages his post-production company, Heras House. Heras’s video editorial work features many commercial fashion films for Vanity Fair, Saint Laurent and Vogue. He also shot another horror-themed short entitled Darkness Calls, a man answers an unknown FaceTime call that leads to unexpected consequences.
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