Filmmakers Missy Hernandez and Miguel Silveira will join IFA to host a screening of their no budget, one-day feature, “The Lost Election and Other Love Stories”.
Stay after the film for an in-depth discussion on how it was made.
The Last Election and Other Love Stories is a documentary fiction hybrid that was shot in one day in Times Square, NYC, during the 2020 presidential election. Chicago-based filmmakers Miguel Silveira and Missy Hernandez decided to make the movie on October 20, 2020, and were on the ground filming just two weeks later. Learn how they successfully pulled together this powerful snapshot of a pivotal moment in recent history and the production planning tactics they used that can help your next project, regardless of time or budget constraints, in this special IFA Chicago screening (72 minutes) and discussion.
Missy Hernandez is an award-winning independent filmmaker and screenwriter whose scripts center Latiné experiences in the US and Caribbean. Her work is intersectional, feminist, often political, and unapologetically fantastical as fits the genre or her whims. Missy’s feature script, I Don’t Dream in Spanish Anymore, is the winner of the 2024 Nantucket Film Festival's Tony CoxScreenplay Competition and winner of the 2024 Athena List, and a finalist for the Nashville Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Her short film script, Lejos de Aquí (Far From Here), was a finalist for the 2025 Shore Scripts Short Film Fund and winner of the 2025 Outstanding Screenplay Shorts Competitions. Missy’s short film, Madrina (2025), is currently on the festival circuit. Missy was a Writer and Co-Producer of American Thief (2020), the co-writer and producer of The Last Election and Other Love Stories (2021), and the Writer’s Assistant and Associate Producer for season one of the HBO/A24 series Random Acts of Flyness (2018). Missy graduated from Columbia University in New York with a BA in Cinema Studies and an MFA in Screenwriting. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Film and Television at Columbia College Chicago. Her previous projects have received support from the Illinois Arts Council, Cine Qua Non Labs, NALIP Media Market, the Chicago International Film Festival’s CIX: Lab, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Jerome Foundation, Stowe Story Labs, and IFP/The Gotham.
MIGUEL SILVEIRA is an award-winning independent filmmaker, arts educator, and Assistant Professor in the film department at Loyola University Chicago. He holds a BA in film productionfrom Columbia College Chicago and an MFA in film directing from Columbia University in New York City. Silveira’s documentary feature, I Am a Visitor in Your World (2013), was an Official Selection of the Woodstock Film Festival, the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, and the Athens Film + Video Festival. American Thief (2020), Silveira’s first feature narrative/documentary hybrid, was a Jerome Foundation Grantee, a participant in the IFP Completion Lab, and is distributed in North America via Film Movement. The Last Election and Other Love Stories (2021), a documentary shot entirely on Election Day 2020, screened at the Warsaw International Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, Urbanworld, and Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. Miguel’s work celebrates topics related to human dignity and development. His projects have received support from the Sloan Foundation, the Directors Guild of America, Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab, the Jerome Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, and IFP/The Gotham. He is the writer-producer for Madrina, a short film directed and co-written by Missy Hernandez, and the producer of I Don’t Dream in Spanish Anymore, a narrative feature project in development.
This is an in-person event. Tickets are free for IFA Members; $15 for non-members.
Light appetizers and beverages will be served. Please notify us of any food allergies or aversions in your registration.