NK Gutiérrez at Black Harvest Film Festival

NK Gutiérrez

NK Gutiérrez

I’m starting to see
filmmakers come forward
and tell their story and
their African American
experience …
the tapestry of the truth
is really incredible

NK Gutiérrez is a tireless supporter of the Gene Siskel Center’s Black Harvest Film Festival. As a member of the event’s Community Council, she is part of a team that works all year to “create what you’re experiencing” when it runs every August.

Judging from her description of opening night, the efforts have paid off.

“Everything was so well done and so well received,” she told Reel Chicago during the reception at the Joffrey Ballet. “I can see and feel how much everybody really enjoyed the experience.”

The daughter of an African American dad and a Mexican American mom, Gutiérrez finds the program’s variety of content to be particularly satisfying. “It’s really important that we are represented and that our stories are represented, not on one level,” she explains. “We are multi-faceted, and that’s something you have not seen in the media up until now.”

 
NK GUTIÉRREZ THE BLACK HARVEST FILM FESTIVAL

 

Besides providing moviegoers with a full month of entertainment, the festival also creates a forum where African American artists can show their work. For Gutierrez — a seasoned writer, producer, make-up artist, and actor who portrays Pilar Valdez in the hit TV show Chicago Fire — this is a major source of inspiration.

When asked to describe the most rewarding parts of her job, she said, “seeing other filmmakers put up their work and see them feel supported.”

The multi-talented professional is also working on a script of her own — titled, Las Palabras — about “straddling the color line and what it is like to be Afro-Latina.”