Season 1, Episode 6

Buen Hombre: Ethan van Thillo

Our featured “Buen Hombre” this week is none other than Ethan van Thillo of the Digital Gym Cinema,  the Media Arts Center San Diego, the San Diego Latino Film Festival, the Teen Producers Project, Tu Cine, Frontera Film Makers, Little Saigon Stories and numerous other San Diego local art/media initiatives that bring diverse and often overlooked segments of our San Diego communities to to independent films and film production. 

Ethan van Thillo is Founder and Executive Director of the DigitaMedia Arts Center San Diego. Since 1989, he has been working in media arts field programming Latino film festivals for the University of California, Santa Cruz, Cine Acción in San Francisco, Cine Estudiantil at the University of California San Diego, and the National Latino Communications Center in Los Angeles.

Ethan has curated 100s of programs at festivals and/or special events in 45 libraries across California, Mexico City, Morelia, Las Cruces, Nuevo Laredo, San Antonio, Tijuana, Sacramento, and San Diego. In 1995, Ethan transformed the Cine Estudiantil into the San Diego Latino Film Festival. In 1999, to broaden the scope of the festival following four successful years, Ethan established the non-profit Media Arts Center San Diego in 1999.

Under the umbrella of MACSD Ethan has developed & created innovative new community based media programs such as the California state-wide Digital Story Station initiative, Teen Producers Project, Youth Media & Tech Camps, Mobile Stories, Speak City Heights, The People’s Post, Video Production Services Department, and the new Digital Gym community technology center and movie theater.