AdeRisa Productions is a California Limited Liability Company founded by Adelina Anthony and Marisa Becerra in July 2012. We have primarily worked on the lands of Tongva and Chumash peoples.
Our indie company immediately went into short film production in October 2012, producing Forgiving Heart (written & directed by Adelina Anthony) and Executive Producing The Good Kind (written & directed by Ofelia Yánez).
We invest in stories and characters living at the intersections of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, spirituality, and much more. We know our character-driven films represent the beauty, complexity, nuance, and resilience of our communities.
We hope our films help foster critical dialogue in the home, online, amongst friends and strangers, and, especially, in classrooms where the next generation of artists are sharpening their minds, hearts, and skillsets.
We always welcome young and emerging talent. We continue to work with professionals from our communities—in front of and behind the camera—with an aim to create intergenerational production sets.
We support our teams with a sustainable work model. The majority of our production days do not to exceed 10 hours of work; and we feed our teams well during our one-hour lunch break.
Our production sets work against racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, classism, and any other behavior that disrupts the harmony and purpose of our work together. While misunderstandings may occur on any production set (and are dealt with professionally and immediately when brought to our attention)—an egregious remark or action that creates intentional harm is never tolerated.
For this reason, we interview everyone who joins our production sets (references matter). During our interviews, all parties are made aware of the purpose of our work together and the expected co-creation of a space grounded in respect, reciprocity, rigor, and shared values.
Since 2012, we have maintained the presence of our Spiritual Elder on set, nancy Chargualaf martin. Chargualaf begins our productions with ritual to honor the land and its original native peoples. We take time to acknowledge everyone in our gathered circle. Moreover, Chargualaf is a Reike and licensed physical massage therapist who cares for our crews and cast during production. Our actors are never allowed to leave our sets after an emotionally triggering scene without first being grounded back into their bodies by Chargualaf. In 2013, we introduced Chargualaf with a Spiritual Elder on Set title on IMDB and have done so ever since.
As Xicanx peoples, we look to our indigenous pasts to nurture a present-day production set that envisions our indigenous futures. Fundamentally, we aim for our process together to be as healing as the medicine in our cinematic offerings.
We our thankful for all of our production sets that have allowed us to grow with them. We give especially give thanks to our ancestors, our collaborators, our communities, and our grant funders who invest in our vision and evolving praxis.
We believe and practice this indigenous tenet: our stories are medicine.
Learn More About Our Core Team
CO-PRODUCERS
As Managing Members, Adelina & Marisa are indebted to Nancy Chargualaf Martin and Karla Legaspy for being a critical part of every film project produced to date. Chargualaf and Legaspy began the journey with us in 2012 with our very first short film production of FORGIVING HEART. (Chargualaf was our production designer and Spiritual Elder and Legaspy was a lead actor.)
In 2020, Legaspy debuted her own production company, KITZO PRODUCTIONS, with the short film THE DAILY WAR (written by Adelina Anthony).
COLLABORATING CO-PRODUCERS
Since 2014, AdeRisa Productions continues to produce projects with D’Lo (D’Locokid Productions); and since 2017 we’ve began producing with Ernesto Javier Martínez (Rebozo Boy Productions).
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
Like Chargualaf and Legaspy, Jean Kim has been on this journey with us since 2012 when she was our gaffer for our first short film. She is an anchor of our team and has worked as a gaffer or cinematographer for us. Mary Brown joined us in the summer of 2014 when we filmed Bruising for Besos as our 1st AC. Both have connected us with equipment, resources, and recommendations for crew. They are kind and informative mentors to up and coming crew members.
RESIDENT COMPOSER
Alex Valenzuelais a MeXicano musician born and raised in Ventura County. A self-taught musician who plays guitar and keyboard, he has many myriad influences from Hans Zimmer, Tool, Metallica, all kinds of Latin music styles to the indigenous drumming of his own peoples. He has scored all of the films penned solely by Adelina Anthony and produced by AdeRisa Productions; as well as GUARDING SANTOS written by Marisa Becerra and THE DAILY WAR directed by Karla Legaspy.
RESIDENT COSTUME DESIGNER
Stacy I. Macias was born and raised in Los Angeles. She is a respected professor at CSULB. She costume designed Legaspy’s GOLD STAR, as well as ODE TO PABLO, GUARDING SANTOS, LA SERENATA and THE DAILY WAR. She bring her Xicana and queer sensibilities/aesthetics to our characters and worlds.
