Bonus feature: Kerry Valderrama

Local director/writer Kerry Valderrama’s stock has never been higher. After the success of his 2008 military mystery Garrison, Valderrama, a U.S. Army veteran born in Panama and raised all over Latin America, focused his attention on another story that hit close to home. In his new screenplay, Memories of a Hundred, Valderrama uses the 1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis in Lima, Peru, as the backdrop for a political thriller. In late 2010, Valderrama stepped into the spotlight when Memories of a Hundred was chosen as one of only 115 scripts (6,304 total entries) to make it to the semifinals in the prestigious Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition. Valderrama, 30, is currently scouting locations and working with producer Kenneth Atchity (Life or Something Like It, Joe Somebody) to secure funding to shoot the film by this summer. Actor Chris Mulkey (HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) is officially cast. “I grew up in the jungles of South America,” Valderrama said. “I know I can tell this story best.”