Congrats to the 2022 PMC-CineStory Scholarship Winner

The CineStory Foundation is excited to announce that Karina Hurtado-Ocampo is the recipient of the 2022 Population Media Center (PMC) CineStory Scholarship for her TV pilot, THE TAKING OF LINCOLN PARK. As this year’s winner, Karina receives a Zoom meeting with PMC executives as well as free housing and tuition for the 2022 CineStory TV retreat.

Karina’s scholarship-winning TV pilot, THE TAKING OF LINCOLN PARK, takes place during the 1970s in the South Bronx at Lincoln Hospital, which killed so many Black and Brown people it was known locally as the “Butcher Shop.” In protest of the abysmal conditions, the Young Lords seize control of the hospital in a 12 hour standoff demanding improvements from the city.

Karina (33, they) is a genre non-conforming television writer, creatively driven towards surrealist narratives. Informed by her experience as a grassroots organizer in New York City, her characters seize their global and historical contexts to create worlds of visionary possibilities. Inquire if you’re interested in journeying with Latinx heroines resisting assimilation into the American dream and siding with Black, Native and Queer America’s fight against the American nightmare. She is inspired by the world building of Donald Glover, Boots Riley, and Terrance Nance.

FIRST THEY CAME FOR MY MOTHER, a short she wrote and co-produced, has won international acclaim for its depiction of emergency response planning among undocumented families in the United States. Karina’s scripts have been selected as Top 50 in Launch Pad’s Pilot Competition, quarterfinalist in the ScriptPipeline TV Writing Contest and CineStory’s TV Retreat & Fellowship Competition, and finalist in Shore Scripts Short Film Fund and WeScreenplay’s College Student Competitions.

“THE TAKING OF LINCOLN HOSPITAL represents the heart of PMC’s mission: female-centric stories that showcase the complexities and organic issues within traditionally marginalized communities,” said Lisa Caruso, PMC’s Head of U.S. Content. “The topics this script touches on – from reproductive healthcare to local activism – are not only important, but deeply relevant to our current climate. Karina has built real and memorable characters and illuminated a real-life crisis that deserves to be re-examined. We couldn’t be more excited to support her work.”

“I am profoundly grateful to Population Media Center for covering my tuition, room & board for the CineStory TV Retreat,” said Karina. “I look forward to taking part of such a thoughtfully catered learning opportunity alongside my peers and professionals in the industry. PMC’s commitment to authentic and powerful narratives that focus on empowering women and girls as well as environmental sustainability is one that I feel personally aligned with. It is truly energizing to have been read and granted this opportunity by the creators of a show as impactful and socially responsible as East Los High. These are producers whose work I have admired and studied as both a writer and activist. Thank you so much!

All of us at CineStory are excited to congratulate Karina on being named the 2022 PMC Scholarship Winner.