about the fotonovela production...

www.fotonovelacompany.com

About The Fotonovela Production Company™

The Fotonovela Production Company™ (FPC), a subsidiary of ACMA Social Marketing

(www.acmasocialmarketing.com), is a family-owned and operated business. FPC helps

organizations reach their audiences by developing entertaining, easy-to-read, and

multicultural educational materials that produce results.

Fotonovelas can convey messages on any topic through the use of stories told with

photos and dialogue. Traditionally a pop culture medium in Mexico and other parts of the

world, fotonovelas are easy to understand and are ideal educational tools.

The Matiella and Naegelin family has been producing educational fotonovelas since

1983. They have produced dozens of fotonovelas and other forms of photo-literature for

Spanish and English speaking audiences on a variety of health topics including

HIV/AIDS, Diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, and other educational topics such as self-

esteem and how parents can help their children excel in school.

History of Fotonovelas

Fotonovela scholars date the origin of fotonovelas back to post World War II when the

photo-booklets were first produced in Italy as a by-product of the film industry. They

began as a pictorial summary of Hollywood films and then evolved into their own unique

medium. Some of the earlier fotonovelas in the 1950’s and 1960’s were written by the

famous Spanish romance novelist, Corín Tellado. From the early 1950’s to the 1980’s,

Mexico was at the center of the fotonovela and historieta boom. Irene Herner, a Mexican

sociologist and author of the seminal work on fotonovelas, Mitos y Monitos(1)

, reported

that in 1979 Mexico was publishing 70 million copies of fotonovelas and historietas per

month. (Historietas are Latino-style graphic novels that also continue to be a pop culture

medium in Mexico, in print and on line.)

The use of educational fotonovelas began in the 70's with organizations such as Aid for

International Development, who produced fotonovelas to address the issue of family

planning in Latin America and Africa. Ana Consuelo Matiella, the CEO of The Fotonovela

Production Company was one of the first educators in the United States to adapt

fotonovelas from a popular culture medium to an educational tool. She is the most

experienced fotonovela producer in the United States.


Staff

Ana Consuelo Matiella, CEO/President

Ana Consuelo Matiella is the President and CEO of The Fotonovela Production Company

(FPC). For the past 25 years she has run ACMA Social Marketing, which is the parent

company of FPC.

Besides being the most experienced fotonovela producer in the United States, Ana is an

experienced strategic and outreach consultant, focus group facilitator and qualitative

researcher. She has extensive experience in developing health communications and

social marketing programs and campaigns. During her eight year tenure at ETR

Associates, a leading reproductive health and family life education publisher, Ana was

editor in charge of developing multicultural publications, including books and trainings for

teachers and health professionals on how to better serve and educate the Latino

population. She is author and producer of over 50 fotonovelas, editor of The Latino

Family Life Education Curriculum, The Multicultural Health Education Challenge, and

Getting the Word Out: A Practical Guide to AIDS Materials Development.

Ana has a BS in Sociology and an MA in English as a Second Language/Applied

Linguistics. A native of Mexico, she is bilingual and bicultural.

Ana is a member of the Public Health Association in New Mexico, Oregon, and Colorado.

As a nationally renowned fotonovela scholar and producer, Ana spends most of her time

in Portland, Oregon and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Lori Matiella-Murray, Vice- President & Marketing Director

Lori Matiella-Murray comes to FPC from the mortgage and financial management

business with over 20 years experience in marketing, sales, and business management.

Lori is the principal in charge of the FPC Denver office and business growth.

Prior to FPC, Lori was a Senior Loan Officer at Affiliated Financial Group assisting clients

in securing financing for home loans.

Lori has a BA in Spanish and Sociology, and attended graduate school in Psychology at

the University of North Dakota. Lori was born and raised on the United States/Mexico

border in Nogales, Arizona. She is bilingual and bicultural.


(Staff Continued….)

Sara Lorenia Naegelin y Matiella – Marketing Director

Sara has been involved in the fotonovela business since she was a child. She brings her

marketing expertise to our Portland office.

Arturo Naegelin – Production Coordinator

Arturo Naegelin has over 25 years experience in fotonovela directing and producing; he

handles all shoot coordination and direction.

Scott Lowry – Art Director and Designer

Scott brings his award winning design sense to our team with over 25 years experience

in graphic design, illustration and art direction. He has been designing our fotonovelas

since 1992.

Carolyn Wright – Photographer

Photographing fotonovelas requires a special skill -- capturing emotion and expression so

the reader can better understand the message. Carolyn has over 20 years experience as

a photographer and has been working for FPC for over 10 years. She is owner of The

Photography Studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Dr. Ramón Valle – Professor Emeritus – San Diego State University

Dr. Valle is a fotonovela scholar and FPC’s primary research advisor. He has conducted

several research projects specifically on the effectiveness of fotonovelas and has been

collaborating with us on fotonovelas production and evaluation for over 20 years.

Dr. Gregory Archer – Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Gregory Archer also consults with us on research design and formative research

approaches. He is the CEO of Archer, Searfoss and Associates, Inc. in Fountain Hills,

Arizona. Dr. Archer is an evaluator, research consultant and grant writer for Valle del Sol,

Inc. the largest Latino nonprofit organization in Arizona. He also evaluates evidence-

based practices and federal grants for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

Administration.


CASE STUDY: National Alzheimer’s Association

and Stanford University

In 1991, The National Alzheimer’s Association, recognizing the need for culturally and linguistically appropriate information about Alzheimer’s disease, took a most effective and socially responsible step to educate Latino families about this challenging condition. They hired The Fotonovela Production Company to produce two pioneering fotonovelas, the first of their kind in the United States. Ten years later, the original story is still being used by the Alzheimer’s Association. A new fotonovela specifically for caregivers, has been produced by FPC and published by Stanford University to continue to reach out to Latinos with culturally and linguistically appropriate information.

Challenge There are 5.3 million people living with Alzheimer’s disease. Every 70 seconds someone develops the disease and it is the 7

th leading cause of death. According to the

Alzheimer’s Association, research is only beginning to uncover the impact of Alzheimer’s disease among Latinos who may be at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Although there is an abundance of information on Alzheimer’s in English, there is great gap of information for Spanish speakers, especially for lower literacy audiences. The challenge facing The Fotonovela Production Company has been to take information about this complex disease and produce engaging stories that are culturally appropriate as well as easy-to-read and understand. Results As a first response to this challenge, the National Alzheimer’s Association produced two fotonovelas in 1991: “¿Qué le pasa al abuelito?” and “Unidos en la lucha.” Because the fotonovelas were so popular, bilingual editions of the same titles were published in 1999. Their English titles are “What is happening to Abuelito?” and “Together We Can Do it.” A third edition, “What is Happening to Grandpa?” was updated and published by the Alzheimer’s Association, but the original story written by health communications experts at The Fotonovela Production Company in 1991, was left intact. These stories rang so true to thousands of Spanish and English readers that they have endured for almost 20 years. In a study conducted by Valle and Yamada in 2006, on the first Alzheimer’s fotonovelas, “¿Qué le pasa al abuelito?” and “Unidos en la lucha,” they were found to be effective in reaching out to low literacy Spanish readers and documented knowledge gain with a representative sample of Spanish language readers. In August of 2009, to further the work of using fotonovelas to educate people about Alzheimer’s disease, The Fotonovela Production Company in collaboration with Stanford University – School of Medicine and The National Alzheimer’s Association produced “Together We Can,” a fotonovela that specifically addresses the needs of caregivers and how they cope with difficult behaviors. The story models how a family can come together, support each other and share the care-giving responsibility. “Together We Can” is currently being used in a research project at Stanford University to assess its effectiveness in helping improve the quality of life of both the caregiver and the person with Alzheimer’s disease. It gives us great satisfaction to produce fotonovelas that have been proven effective through scientific research. We hope to continue to provide our expertise in producing culturally and linguistically appropriate communications that make a difference.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What is a fotonovela?

A fotonovela is a story told with photos and dialogue. Popular in Africa, Mexico and other

countries in Latin America, fotonovelas are ideal educational tools because they are

entertaining and easy-to-read.

2. Why use fotonovelas to educate people about health and other

important topics?

Because they are easy-to-read and entertaining, fotonovelas are great tools for

increasing health literacy and for making information accessible.

3. What is the history of fotonovelas?

Fotonovela scholars date the origin of fotonovelas back to post World War II when the

photo-booklets were first produced in Italy as a by-product of the film industry. They

began as a pictorial summary of Hollywood films and then evolved into their own unique

medium.

4. Where are fotonovelas most popular?

One can find fotonovelas or photo novels all over the world but they became a popular

culture medium in Mexico and Latin America from the 1950s to the 1980s. In 1979,

Mexico was producing 70 million copies of fotonovelas per month. Because of their Latin

America connection, they are culturally familiar, popular, and an effective educational

medium among Latinos.

5. When did fotonovelas become educational tools?

As early as 1970, AID (Aid for International Development) and other global health

organizations began using fotonovelas to educate people about family planning, malaria,

and sexually transmitted diseases. Ana Consuelo Matiella, the CEO of The Fotonovela

Production Company, was one of the first health communications experts to use

fotonovelas to educate people about health. Her first fotonovela was Dolores y

Esperanza, published by the National Arthritis Foundation in 1983. Under the direction of

Ms. Matiella, ETR Associates, an educational publisher in Santa Cruz, California, was

one of the first publishers in the United States to develop a fotonovela on AIDS/HIV.

Saturday Night Special, published in 1986 in Spanish (Sábado Loco) and English, was

distributed to over one million people in the United States.


(Frequently Asked Questions

Continued….)

6. Are fotonovelas only for Latinos or Spanish readers?

Absolutely not! Fotonovelas are popular with Latino audiences and are great Latino

marketing tools but fotonovelas have universal appeal. The Fotonovela Production

Company staff has produced fotonovelas for multicultural audiences in all regions of the

United States.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is an old adage because it’s true. Another old

adage is “Everyone loves a story.” Stories have universal appeal and fotonovelas are told

with pictures. It is an ideal and fun way to learn.

7. How do fotonovelas address the issue of health literacy?

Health literacy continues to be a problem in the United States. In the area of diabetes

alone the lack of health literacy has been blamed for diabetes complications such as loss

of limbs, blindness and kidney failure. Many diseases and conditions such as diabetes

and heart disease can be managed and even prevented by good health communications

yet these chronic conditions continue to be a tragic global problem.

Because fotonovelas are entertaining and easy to read, they are an ideal tool to address

health literacy. Because they use engaging characters to tell the story, they are great for

modeling healthy behaviors.

8. Why was The Fotonovela Production Company established?

The Fotonovela Production Company™ was established because we are committed to

making important health and education information clear to multicultural audiences. We

believe that fotonovelas hold a great potential for informing people in an accessible and

entertaining manner.

9. Does research support fotonovelas as effective?

Yes! Although there have been relatively few research studies done on the effectiveness

of fotonovelas, there are some significant studies that prove their effectiveness. A

bibliography is available on our website: www.fotonovelacompany.com.

10. What are the steps in developing a fotonovela?

Producing fotonovelas is a complex and interesting process of work. Here are a few of

the basic steps to take:


(Frequently Asked Questions

Continued….)

• Define who you want to reach as specifically as possible.

• Get to know your audience: their values, needs, barriers, desires, and motivators.

Conduct focus group interviews and other formative research that will help you

understand your audience.

• Zero in on your message. Ask yourself, “What do we want our audience to do as

a result of reading this fotonovela?”

• Start with a solid and well-researched concept paper with goals, educational

objectives and evaluation outcomes clearly defined.

• Write a creative strategy and develop the script.

• Hire a great production team.

• Keep the literacy level accessible.

• Field-test the fotonovela with your primary audience to make sure that it is

aligned with their values, beliefs and motivators.

The Fotonovela Production Company ™ - is the most experienced fotonovela production

firm in the United States. Ana Consuelo Matiella, CEO, has been writing, developing and

producing fotonovelas for 25 years. For more information on how The Fotonovela

Production Company™ can help you reach your audience, call 505-466-8817 or visit our

website www.fotonovelacompany.com.


The Fotonovela Production Company

33 Camarada Road

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 23, 2009

Contact:

Ana Consuelo Matiella

505-466-8817

[email protected]

Fotonovela Company Receives Research Grant from National Cancer Institute

Santa Fe, NM - September 23, 2009 – The Fotonovela Production Company

has received a Small Business Innovative Research grant # R43CA135999-01A1 - from

the National Institutes of Health – National Cancer Institute to research the effectiveness

of fotonovela health strips in Spanish language newspapers. The National Cancer

Institute supports the pursuit of innovative ways to educate the public about cancer

prevention and sound nutritional practices.

Popular in Latin America and Africa, fotonovelas are booklets, much like comic

books, that tell stories with dialogue and photographs. Spanish speakers and other

underserved populations often have trouble accessing good health information, and

much of the available information does not reach Spanish speakers because the

information is poorly translated and difficult to understand. The fotonovela takes complex

information and makes it easier to understand through storytelling via photos and

dialogue.

Ana Consuelo Matiella, president of FPC, creator of the strip and most

experienced health education fotonovela producer in the United States, has teamed up

with researchers to assess the receptivity of the fotonovela health strips with Spanish

language readers and the commercial viability of the Spanish language health strips with

Spanish newspaper publishers and commercial sponsors.

For more information, visit www.fotonovelacompany.com or call 505-466-8817.

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