'America's Family' Producer, Nadia Voukitchevitch

The film, America's Family is an audience favorite, and with reason. "I am proud to have written and directed a film that reflects today’s American family as intersectional, mixed status and mixed ethnic and as the cornerstone of an evolving American culture." Those are the words of writer and director Anike L. Tourse. The film has already claimed the Grand Jury Award for Features as well as the Audience Award for Competition Features at the 25th annual Dances with Films festival in Los Angeles.

America's Family was produced by Nadia Voukitchevitch, Angelica Salas, Emiliana Guereca and CHIRLA. The film tells the story of the Diaz family, whose home is raided by ICE on Thanksgiving Day.  The mother, Marisol (Tourse), was put in detention, her son Koke (Ricardo Cisneros) was deported, and patriarch Jorge (Mauricio Mendoza) fled for protective sanctuary. Marisol and Jorge’s two American-born children—young attorney Emiliano (Emmanuel López Alonso) and his differently-abled teen sister Valentina (Jailene Arias) scramble to reunite the family as their parents and brother fight to get home.​​

To read the full article on the film, read our coverage,  'America's Family,' A Favorite at Dances with Films Festival.

We are looking into the life of producer Nadia Voukitchevitch, a New Yorker who is paving her way in the film industry. 

She's a producer, writer and director. Voukitchevitch was born in New York City, earned her BA at Sarah Lawrence College and has been living in Los Angeles for almost 18 years. Nadia also has a Masters in Human Development with a concentration in Leadership in Education and Human Services from Pacific Oaks College. While at Sarah Lawrence, Nadia was elected Sophomore Class President and as a member of the Student Senate brought about change on campus particularly affecting students of color. Nadia directed several short films and documentaries, one called “Color & Differences @ SLC” about the experiences of students and professors of color on campus that caused some controversy. She also directed “Foreign Women Living in Russia” when she took her Junior year abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia, which lead her to become a finalist for Documentary by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1998. When living in Russia, she was asked to play a small role in the film “Brother”, directed by Alexei Balabanov and starring Sergei Bodrov Jr., which received a Special Nomination at Cannes in 1997 and won numerous awards including Best Feature Film at the Brussels International Film Festival. ​

On making America's Family:
​“Producing this film was beyond a work of love and social justice for me as a daughter of immigrants who fled Hitler during WWII. I have always believed that this is a country made up of immigrants from all over the world. It’s an honor for me to support CHIRLA and Angélica Salas for over 17 years, a non-profit very close to my heart that has been advocating for immigrant rights for generations.  We hope that our film sparks a bright light in those already aware of the need for immigration reform and those new to the critical issue, and inspire them to take action” shared Voukitchevitch. ​

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Nadia comes from a multicultural family who traveled the world, her father, an Author, was born in Geneva. Her paternal grandfather from Montenegro became a Member of the Secretariat of the League of Nations, and her concert pianist-artist-poet mother, the Philippines. She recently discovered that she had English, Swedish, Norwegian and Basque blood via a DNA test. Nadia is fluent in Spanish and speaks several languages. Her work has taken her to film in many countries including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Nadia's interests in drama and film started at the age of 10 when she decided she wanted to be a Director. When in High School, she won a place at the Future Filmmaker’s Workshop at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Nadia was Senior Class President and founded the Video Club at Washington Irving H.S., where she made her first animated film and won a Drama Cup at Hunter College for playing a male and female role simultaneously in a play by Lope de Vega in Spanish.

Nadia’s passion for Photography started at the Instituto de Bachillerato de Miguel Hernández in Alicante where she took her first classes. When in High School, several of her B&W photographs were bought and published by Paramount. She recently had one of her B&W photographs taken in Cuba minted as her first NFT when selected to be exhibited in the Every Women Biennial in NYC at the SuperChief Gallery. ​

Nadia’s film career began with Good Machine Inc. working on low-budget indie films with mentors Ted Hope and James Schamus and Directors Nicole Holefcener, Hannah Weyer, Tod Haynes, Hal Hartley, Eddie Burns, and Ang Lee and Producers Anthony Bregman and Mary Jane Skalski. Later she worked on big-budget Hollywood features like Hurricane, dir. Norman Jewison, and Music of the Heart, dir. Wes Craven. 

As a woman of color, Nadia worked her way up from Locations Intern, Key PA, Production Coordinator, Assistant Producer, Script Supervisor on features, to 1st Assistant Director, Line Producer, Producer and eventually Executive Producer on TV commercial sets. Nadia also worked on TV Shows: CNN, MTV, VH1, and BBC, and some music videos for Celine Dion, Trick Daddy, Juan Luis Guerra, Jennifer Lopez…
 
Nadia’s first job as an Agency Producer was at Castor Advertising in Miami, one of the top US Hispanic Advertising Agencies with Fortune 500 clients, including General Motors, Pontiac, Anheuser Busch, Bacardi, Castrol Oil. This opportunity allowed her to work with the best commercial production companies in the nation, both for the US Hispanic Market and General Market, and to learn about all aspects of Latin culture.
 
In 2001 she moved to Los Angeles where she became Executive Producer at Castells Advertising and helped grow the Agency in four years by winning 19 new business accounts out of 20 pitches. Nadia also worked for Grupo Gallegos, Casanova Pendrill/McCann Erikson, Pacific Communications, Vitro Agency, al Punto, and directly with brands such as Aireloom and Pep Boys. She has won multiple awards for advertising campaigns that she produced, a Belding for a Kohls’ Holiday spot and Palm D’Ors for an Alzheimer’s campaign.

She directed, produced, wrote and edited a short film: “Behind Closed Doors”, and directed documentary Esperanza Community Housing Corp and PSAs for CHIRLA, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, who awarded her a certificate of recognition.
  
Nadia produced a short comedy, Ending Up, directed by Paige Morrow Kimball, starring Jenica Bergere and Matt Letscher, that won many awards at film festivals, including the Comedy Block Audience Award at the San Jose Short Film Festival. 
  
Nadia's passion for social justice and love for public service led her to raise funds for many non-profits. After sending her 287-page thesis on US Public School Education Reform to the White House, she received a letter from President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden acknowledging how critical education is to the long-term success of our Nation. She is also writing her memoir, and is developing a script, a period piece on her paternal ancestors and how they came to survive the Russian Revolution and WWI and migrated to the US on the brink of WWII while being torpedoed by a nazi submarine. 

Nadia ran the 5k in the Pasadena Triathlon and a 5k for BrittaCares: helping children survive cancer; her last Honolulu Marathon raised 8 million for APLA and the fight against AIDS. She is also the proud Mom to her 13-year-old son, who recently won a Grammy with the National Children’s Chorus, and their dogs Estrella and a rescue puppy Fearless. Nadia recently married her partner of 8 years, Director, Editor, Producer and VFX Supervisor, and Founder of VFXLA, Robb Hart.

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