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SAVE THE DATE: Sunday, November 9 – A Hometown Premiere in San Antonio
We are thrilled to announce that American Sons, a powerful documentary produced by Laura Varela and produced/directed by Andrew James Gonzales, will return home for a special San Antonio “Hometown” Premiere on Sunday, November 9th, 2025 at the Carver Community Cultural Center. The evening will feature a red carpet celebration, followed by a screening and Q&A with the filmmakers and participants.
This premiere is meaningful, as San Antonio is where Corporal JV Villarreal started this story and where his legacy continues to live on through family, friends, and the local community.
The event is supported by Bexar County and City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture.
Tickets and schedule will be released soon. Sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates. Read more…
Sept. 1 unlocks first installment of $1.5 billion film incentive package in Texas
The investment is also an indication of values, said San Antonio based filmmaker Andrew Gonzales.
“It shows that Texas cares about filmmaking and understands the economic implications by giving these incentives and bringing creatives to make things here in Texas,” he said.
Texas Movie Bistro in Lake Worth recently hosted a premier of the extended cut of the documentary Gonzales directed and co-produced. Read more…
A Documentary About a Fallen Marine Starts Its Oscar Campaign in North Texas
The themes of American Sons—an intimate and unflinching story of brotherhood, sacrifice, and reintegration struggles among veterans—resonate just about anywhere. However, the documentary hits closer to home in Texas, where it was filmed before generating audience buzz and earning critical acclaim at its SXSW debut in March.
That prompted the filmmakers to think bigger by seeking Academy Award eligibility. North Texas was added earlier this year, replacing Miami, as one of six markets nationwide for approved Oscar-qualifying public screenings. Read more…
American Sons on Texas Today NBC 5 Dallas – Fort Worth
American Sons Producer, Fernando S. Cano II sits down with host of NBC 5 DFW Texas Today Cleo Greene to talk about the official Awards-qualifying theatrical run at the Texas Movie Bistro theater in Fort Worth from August 8 – August 14, 2025 Watch the interview…
American Sons on Inside DFW – CW33 Dallas
DALLAS (KDAF) — The film was produced and directed Andrew James Gonzales, who said the story began in 2010 when Villareal was deployed to Afghanistan and brought a video camera to document his time and share with his friends and family back home.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance. He, like so many Marines, like so many military personnel, he died in the field,” Gonzales said. “This footage is just captivating…and just a unique look at what someone goes through in combat.” Watch the interview…
American Sons on WFAA – ABC 8 DFW
FORT WORTH, Texas — American Sons follows a group of Marines a decade after their deployment to Afghanistan as they navigate the lingering trauma of war and the devastating loss of their comrade, Corporal JV Villarreal. The film premiered at SXSW 2025 in Austin. In August, the movie will be showing at the Texas Movie Bistro in Fort Worth from August 8th – 14th for its Oscar®-qualifying theatrical run.
Screening of American Sons at the Texas Movie Bistro – August 2025
American Sons, a deeply moving documentary produced by Laura Varela and produced/directed by Andrew James Gonzales, will have its official Awards- qualifying theatrical run at the Texas Movie Bistro theater from August 8 – August 14, 2025, with a special Red Carpet event on Saturday, August 9th. Hosted by the Fort Worth Film Commission and the Texas Movie Bistro, American Sons aims to inspire and challenge audiences through its raw storytelling and powerful narrative. Read more…
LALIFF 2025 Interview: Andrew James Gonzales and Laura Varela on Leaving No Man Behind in “American Sons”
Though “American Sons” was built around the memory of J.V. Villarreal, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps who tragically didn’t return home from his service in Afghanistan, it is quite easy to believe he is still alive from his dispatches from the battlefield, enthusiastically describing all the parts of the military experience that were new to him as someone who spent his childhood in San Antonio. “It’d be nice to be done with the war shit, go to school, go do something better,” he admits as he shows off his barracks in the opening minutes of Andrew James Gonzales’ moving documentary, but he hasn’t lost his good spirits, surely boosting those around him in his unit that haven’t let him go after their own return home. Read more…
Though “American Sons” was built around the memory of J.V. Villarreal, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps who tragically didn’t return home from his service in Afghanistan, it is quite easy to believe he is still alive from his dispatches from the battlefield, enthusiastically describing all the parts of the military experience that were new to him as someone who spent his childhood in San Antonio. “It’d be nice to be done with the war shit, go to school, go do something better,” he admits as he shows off his barracks in the opening minutes of Andrew James Gonzales’ moving documentary, but he hasn’t lost his good spirits, surely boosting those around him in his unit that haven’t let him go after their own return home. Read more…
AMERICAN SONS’ Laura Varela (PRODUCER) & Andrew James Gonzales (DIRECTOR & PRODUCER) sit down with Kuya P for NRW!
Following a very powerful and emotional World Premiere in Austin, TX with standing ovations and a heartfelt Q/A, and after an impactful screening at the Houston Latino Film Festival where the film won the coveted Best Documentary Audience Award, AMERICAN SONS is set to inspire audiences in Los Angeles Saturday May 31 2025, at 3PM PT at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood as part of LALIFF. Read more…
Five Films to Catch at LALIFF 2025
We are going to start off, like many of our tias and amigas do, with the real-life drama. American Sons follows a group of Marines a decade after one of the most physically and emotionally traumatic times of their lives. Anchoring the story is a video diary left behind by one of their own, Cpl. JV Villarreal. It offers an incredibly honest and vulnerable view of military life, including the trauma of not only his death, but the war at large. American Sons is far from the same ‘ol military doc. Rooted heavily in Latino culture, producer and director Andrew Gonzales’ film earned a spot in my top 10 2025 best docs in the first 2:21 seconds. What these men endured is painful, it’s gut-wrenching and it’s incredibly important to honor the healing that they dare to want for themselves. Read more…
Screening of American Sons at the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival 2025
American Sons, produced by Laura Varela and produced/directed by Andrew James Gonzales, is an official selection of the 2025 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF)—an Oscar-qualifying festival that celebrates the richness and diversity of Latinx voices in cinema. Read more…
Screen Zealots: Review of American Sons
Director Andrew James Gonzales’s documentary is incredibly touching as it focuses on the emotional and psychological aftermath of combat and how these Marines lean on each other to cope with their shared trauma. The raw footage, which shows these men confronting their pain and reflecting on the sacrifice they made, is gut-wrenching and deeply human. It’s clear that the loss of JV was not just a loss of a friend, but a wound that continues to haunt these veterans and influences everything from their relationships to their sense of self. Read more…
Sunshine State Cineplex Review: American Sons – Examining the Depths of Sorrow Among Veterans
For all the ways America celebrates its veterans, it feels like they are left behind far too often. With the current cuts to Veterans Affairs organizations by the current government, it seems unlikely that things will improve for former soldiers without genuine action. That makes documentaries like American Sons, from director Andrew James Gonzales all the more important. For veteran’s stories to get out, they must be brought to light. American Sons combines archival footage from a service members in Afghanistan with home video footage of the men on the homefront. The combination keys the audience into the issues many face, reintegrating into society while ensuring the names are not lost in the shuffle. Read more…
Houston Latino Film Festival | Bayou City Buzz
The Houston Latino Film Festival is in full swing and Coco Dominguez stopped by to see how these films are representing Latino culture. Read more…
9th annual Houston Latino Film Festival kicks off with plenty of opportunity to aspiring filmmakers
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The 9th annual Houston Latino Film Festival is in full swing, featuring musical acts, film-making panels, and film screenings including “American Sons” on Friday night in Houston. ABC13 sat down with one of the producers of the film, Elizabeth Avellan, about the making of the powerful documentary. She explained how the film has a “universal” message and believes for that reason the story is able to resonate with everyone. It’s also just one of the 70 films being showcased from around the world. Read more…
‘American Sons’ documentary based on fallen Texas Marine screens at Houston Latino Film Festival
HOUSTON (KIAH) – San Antonio filmmaker Andrew James Gonzales debuted his documentary “American Sons” at SXSW in Austin, last weekend. Now he’s screening it at the Houston Latino Film Festival. Read more…
Screening of American Sons at the Houston Latino Film Festival 2025
American Sons, a deeply moving documentary produced by Laura Varela and produced/directed by Andrew James Gonzales, will have an official screening at the Houston Latino Film Festival on March 14, 2025. This poignant film offers an intimate and gripping look at the challenges faced by U.S. veterans as they navigate life after combat. Read more…
Late San Antonio veteran’s life focus of ‘American Sons’ at SXSW
After U.S. Marine Corps Corporal Jorge “JV” Villarreal Jr. died in October 2010 while serving in Afghanistan, his older sister, April Rodriguez, decided that his story should live on.
Villarreal himself, a graduate of Kennedy High School on San Antonio’s West Side, left his sister a fascinating foundation to start from – video footage he shot during his military training and while on tour in the Middle East. Read more…
American Sons: Documentary Following the Journey of a San Antonio Marine!
American Sons is a documentary that follows a group of Marines a decade after Afghanistan as they confront the lasting impact of war, and the loss of their brother, Corporal JV Villarreal. The documentary features clips from JV’s own video diary.
Corporal Villareal was raised right here in San Antonio on the west side. He went from Kennedy High School to Afghanistan, but didn’t make it back. Take a look for a sneak peak of the film and a chat with Director James Gonzales and Producer Laura Varela! Read more…
Corporal Villareal was raised right here in San Antonio on the west side. He went from Kennedy High School to Afghanistan, but didn’t make it back. Take a look for a sneak peak of the film and a chat with Director James Gonzales and Producer Laura Varela! Read more…
‘American Sons’ documentary based on fallen San Antonio Marine to premiere at SXSW
South by Southwest will take over Austin once again this March, and one feature film from San Antonio will make its world premiere there. “American Sons” is an hourlong documentary that tells the story of Marine Cpl. Jorge “JV” Villarreal. The 22-year-old Kennedy High School graduate was killed in the line of duty when he stepped on an IED while on patrol in Afghanistan in October 2010. The idea for the film came more than eight years ago, when Villarreal’s sister and only sibling handed local filmmakers Andrew James Gonzales and Laura Varela hours of home video and narration shot by her brother. Read more…
American Sons World Premiere at SXSW 2025
The highly anticipated documentary American Sons, Produced by Laura Varela and Produced/Directed by Andrew James Gonzales, will make its World Premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. This powerful documentary, part of the festival’s acclaimed lineup (SXSW Official Selection), offers a gripping and deeply personal look at the enduring impact of war on U.S. veterans. American Sons stands among an impressive slate of thought-provoking films that aim to challenge and inspire audiences. Read more…
San Antonio Marine killed in Afghanistan tells his story in new documentary
In 2011, Laura Varela received a call from a woman named April Rodriguez who wanted to show her some videos she had from the Afghanistan war. The videos had been taken by Rodriguez’s brother, Marine Cpl. Jorge Villarreal. A vehicle operator from San Antonio, Villarreal was killed in October 2010 when he stepped on an improvised explosive device, or IED, in Kajaki, Afghanistan. Rodriguez wanted Varela, a documentary filmmaker, to use the videos to somehow tell her brother’s story.
Though it wasn’t until 2018 that she and director Andrew James Gonzales were able to begin work on the documentary, Varela kept her promise. “American Sons” will make its global premier at this year’s South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. The festival begins Friday in Austin. Read more…
Black Public Media Gifts $610K To Film And Immersive Media Projects At PitchBLACK Awards
The Jacquie Jones Memorial Fund award was presented to American Sons, a documentary project by Andrew J. Gonzales and Laura Varela. The $380,000 award will assist the duo in completing their film, which follows a cadre of Marines after deployment in Afghanistan as they reunite over the loss of their brother and work to heal from physical and emotional wounds. The film is slated for a PBS premiere in 2025. Made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the fund supports makers in the tradition of the late Peabody Award-winning director and BPM’s second executive director, Jacquie Jones, who helped foster diverse content creators. Read More…
American Sons To Receive Grant from California Humanities
This year 18 media productions received the California Documentary Grant. Amongst those recipients was Laura Varela and Andrew James Gonzales’s American Sons, a documentary exploring the lives of a Marine Brotherhood and a Gold Star family. Read More…
‘Our Sorrow, His Honor’: Documentary Film on Westside Marine to Air on PBS
“Jorge ‘JV’ Villarreal knew from an early age that he wanted to be a Marine”, writes Nicholas Frank of the San Antonio Report. “The U.S. invaded Afghanistan while Villarreal was in middle school on San Antonio’s West Side…Villarreal eventually joined up after graduating from Memorial High School, trained at Camp Pendleton in Southern California and was dispatched to the Helmand Province in 2010.A few months later, Villarreal was killed in a action after stepping on an improvised explosive device. Thanks to footage he made during his training and combat tour, Villareal’s story will live on. His videos form the core of American Sons, a documentary film slated to air on PBS next year.” Read More…
A Work-in-Progress Screening and Filmmaker Panel Discussion – March 28, 2023
Join us for a screening of select scenes from this upcoming PBS Documentary American Sons produced by San Antonio Filmmakers Andrew James Gonzales and Laura Varela. This event is FREE and open to the Public (Pre-registration is encouraged). Representatives from Bexar County Military and Veterans Services will be on hand to provide information on available resources Read More…
AMERICAN SONS SELECTED FOR LPB 2021 FUNDING CYCLE
“We are very proud to support the extraordinary work of these filmmakers who truly represent the amazing diversity within our Latino creative community,” says LPB Executive Director Sandie Viquez Pedlow. “These productions also represent a vital step in addressing the dismal lack of Latino voices in today’s media; our passion and our mission is to correct that imbalance. These new projects remind us that there is an endless number of stories about our community that need to be told and we can’t wait to share them with viewers nationally.” Read More…
AMERICAN SONS DIRECTOR ANDREW GONZALES SELECTED FOR CITY OF SAN ANTONIO INDIVIDUAL ARTIST GRANT 2021
“The Individual Artists Project Grants Program is truly a collaborative effort between our department and the many outstanding artists who call San Antonio home,” said Department of Arts & Culture Interim Executive Director Krystal Jones. “It is exciting to see the program come full circle with the support of 30 talented individuals and new and incredible artworks for residents and visitors to experience, enjoy and share.” Read More…
12 LATINO DOCS WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE ON PBS
Stand and Deliver actor Edward James Olmos, the co-founder and chairman of Latino Public Broadcasting, said in a prepared statement, “We’re very excited about this year’s funded projects. We have a high percentage of new filmmakers and there’s an urgency and passion and timelessness about their subject matter.” Read More…
AMERICAN SONS SELECTED FOR LPB 2019 FUNDING CYCLE
“Now more than ever, the stories and voices of Latinos must be heard,” says Edward James Olmos, co-founder and Chairman of Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB). “We look forward to working with these talented filmmakers; together we can reclaim our narrative and bridge the gap between our community and the nation at large — building bridges instead of walls.” Read More…
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