Industry Network

"CEREBRAL" is a tragedy about a family torn apart by a traumatic brain injury. Ruben Esteban, a beloved husband and father, is violently attacked while saving a student, leaving him with a severe head injury. When he awakens from a coma, his personality is altered, developing erratic behavior, catatonic states, and a disturbing hyper-sexual disorder. His wife, Sonia, is thrust into the role of caregiver, fighting to save the man she loves while protecting their teenage daughter, Jessica, from the increasingly dangerous stranger her husband has become. As Ruben's condition deteriorates, with his moments of lucidity becoming rarer and his dark impulses more uncontrollable, Sonia is forced to face the horrifying reality that the man she married may be gone forever. Her mother urges her to institutionalize him, but Sonia clings to hope until Ruben's inner darkness takes a violent turn. The film builds to a devastating confrontation where Ruben attacks his own daughter. Sonia, holding a gun, is paralyzed with horror. In a final moment of heart-wrenching clarity, Ruben's true self emerges, recognizing the terror he has caused and, to save his family from himself, forces Sonia's hand to pull the trigger, ending the profound tragedy of his lost life.

Alex Avila is an Austin-based filmmaker, journalist, and educator with a PhD in Journalism. He attended film school at the University of Texas at Austin in the early 1990s. A former NPR producer with 25 years in journalism, he co-founded the Chicano/Latino Film Forum in 1993 – active throughout the 1990s. He has written and produced several award-winning feature films. His first feature, "Closer to Bottom," won Best Texas Feature at the inaugural Austin Indie Fest, followed by the rom-com "Vecinos: Love thy Neighbor," which earned multiple festival honors. His third feature, a psychological thriller titled CEREBRAL won accolades in over a dozen scriptwriting contests. Avila founded TexMex FilmWorks in 2022 to produce Latino stories with mass appeal beginning with the psychological thriller Cerebral, which premiered late April 2026 at the Mexican-American Film & Television Festival in Los Angeles. The film was also a finalist at the San Antonio Film Festival 2026. A master filmmaking fellow with the Mexican American Cultural Education Foundation, he’s currently developing A.I. Dad as his 4th feature film. The screenplay, completed in April 2025, won “Best Screenplay” at the San Antonio Film Festival in July 2025. (See www.texmexfilmworks.com) When he’s not working on films, Dr. Avila teaches journalism and mass communications at Texas State University.

The magical world of Moriah Hallow. With books and videos that celebrate faith, kindness, and wonder. At the heart of this world is Noam, the gentle headmaster who shares God’s love with lost pets, bunny helpers, and forest friends. Through seasonal celebrations and heartfelt adventures, Moriah Hallow invites families everywhere to experience stories filled with hope, imagination, and God’s enduring love. Share God's love with the real-world people as all pets do.

Emile B. Lacerte Jr is a visionary creator developing story universes that echo the mythic clarity of C.S. Lewis and the cinematic charm of Walt Disney. As both author and storyteller, he blends folklore, faith, and modern emotion into books and videos that resonate with families and global audiences. His work expands into film, animation, and transmedia storytelling, building a legacy of imagination and meaning.

Game Girls is an intimate feature documentary following Teri Rogers and Tiahna Vince, two women whose love unfolds against the extraordinary realities of Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Their relationship is tested by homelessness, poverty, incarceration, substance use, mental-health challenges and a system that makes finding stability extraordinarily difficult.

At the beginning, Teri and Tiahna are deeply connected but living within a world where survival often takes priority over everything else. Tiahna returns to the streets after incarceration, while Teri increasingly wants something different: stability, safety and a way out. Their love becomes both a source of strength and a point of conflict.

As the story develops, the film moves beyond stereotypes about Skid Row and into the complicated human reality behind them. The women confront bureaucracy, economic hardship, personal trauma and the difficult choices required simply to survive. Their relationship is never reduced to a simple victim story; instead, the audience witnesses two women trying to reclaim agency and imagine another future.

The film ultimately becomes a story about resilience, love and the possibility of transformation. Game Girls premiered internationally at the 2018 Berlinale and went on to receive the Grand Jury Prize at the Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bordeaux and the CIMA Award at the Gijón International Film Festival. In 2026, it was also named Best Feature Documentary at the California Women’s Film Festival.

Today, the film continues to reach audiences through streaming and public exhibition, while Teri Rogers has carried the conversation beyond the screen through advocacy, storytelling and community work. Game Girls is not simply a film about where she came from—it is part of an ongoing story about what can happen after survival.

Teri Rushawn Rogers is an author, advocate, entrepreneur and community leader whose life story became central to the award-winning documentary Game Girls. A survivor of homelessness and Los Angeles’ Skid Row, Rogers transformed experiences of survival, stigma and systemic barriers into a lifelong commitment to advocacy and community change. She is the founder of Breaking Stigmas Treatment Operation (BSTO), a nonprofit focused on reducing stigma and expanding pathways toward housing stability, mental-health support, recovery and opportunity. Rogers is also the author of America’s Game Girl: Bridging the Gaps – A Journey of Love, Mental Health, and Overcoming Stigma, which received the 2024 International Impact Book Award in Addiction & Recovery. Through film, writing, public speaking and community work, Rogers continues to use lived experience as a platform for education, healing and social impact.