American Sons Documentary Team
American Sons Documentary Team
Producer / Director – Andrew Gonzales (Infinite Warrior LLC)
Andrew James Gonzales is an award-winning Texas filmmaker and the Producer, Director, Cinematographer, and Editor of American Sons, a feature-length documentary that reveals the sacrifices of veterans and their families and confronts the mental health epidemic impacting those who return from combat.
Dedicated to telling underrepresented stories with raw, honesty, Gonzales brings a rare blend of technical skill and emotional sensitivity to his work. His dual role behind the camera and in the editing room gives American Sons a visual and emotional cohesion that captures the veteran experience with unprecedented intimacy.
More than a filmmaker, Andrew is an advocate. His work is rooted in a commitment to honoring veterans, raising awareness about mental health and ensuring that the sacrifices of service members are both recognized and remembered. Through storytelling, he seeks to create connection, healing, and a deeper cultural understanding.
He is a recipient of Black Public Media’s 2024 Jacqueline Jones Memorial Fund, the 2023 California Humanities Documentary Fund, the 2023 Bexar County Public Artist Fund, the 2022 San Antonio Artist Grant, the 2019 and 2021 Latino Public Broadcasting Public Media Grant Award. and the 2020 and 2021 NALIP Media Market Fellowship. In 2018, he took home several honors from film festivals including Brooklyn’s Latino Short Film Festival, the Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival, the Festigious International Film Festival, the Top Shorts Online Film Festival, and the IndieFest Film Awards. In 2015, he and filmmaker Laura Varela took top prize in the 80/20 Foundation’s City on The Rise Film Competition at The San Antonio Film Festival.
Producer – Laura Varela (Infinite Warrior LLC)
Laura Varela is a cultural translator and channels her upbringing on the US/ Mexico border in El Paso, TX, into her work, transcending cultural, linguistic, and physical borders through film and contemporary art installations. She is based in San Antonio, TX, a hub for her filmmaking and artistic endeavors. She is a producer for the VoxFem Network, a platform for innovative, international women artists and changemakers. Her work as a Producer/Director/Writer for documentary films further underscores her commitment to social justice movements and her life’s mission to use art and storytelling to uplift the Latinx/Chicanx community. She is developing a feature film, QUEEN OF THE ACCORDION, based on the life of Conjunto musician Eva Ybarra; and the documentary REBECCA FLORES: UNDER THE SOUTH TEXAS SUN with Anne Lewis.
Varela’s documentary, AS LONG AS I REMEMBER: AMERICAN VETERANOS, was broadcast nationally on PBS from 2010 to 2016 via American Public Television. UN TRIP: RAÚLRSALINAS AND THE POETRY OF LIBERATION (documentary short) by Anne Lewis and Laura Varela has completed its film festival run and has won numerous awards and broadcast on PBS stations across Texas as part of the Frame of Mind Series. She is the Associate Producer on Anne Lewis’s 2028 film A STRIKE AND AND UPRISING (IN TEXAS!) She produced the related educational short EMMA TENAYUCA AND THE 1938 SAN ANTONIO PECAN SHELLERS STRIKE and helped develop the educational website. Varela’s projects have received funding from Latino Public Broadcasting’s Public Media Content Fund, The Jacquie Jones Memorial Scholars Fund by Black Public Media, California Humanities Documentary Fund, Humanities Texas, ITVS Diversity Development Fund, The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture National Fund for the Arts, the Bexar County Public Arts Fund, and the City of San Antonio Arts and Culture.
Varela lectures and screens her work nationally and internationally at cultural centers and Universities. She taught classes in 2012-2013 on documentary film in the Department of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Texas San Antonio. Varela is an alumnus of the PBS Producers Academy, the NALAC Leadership Institute, the NALIP Producers Academy, the NALIP Latino Media Market, and the Creative Capital Professional Development Workshop. She is a graduate of the University of Texas Department of Radio-TV and Film. Artist Residencies include Swarthmore College, Art for Change, NYC, and the Hochschule Niederrhein, Faust Academy, and the University of Bielefeld in Germany.
Producer – Elizabeth Avellán
Elizabeth Avellán is a Producer of bold narrative diversified content. She is Co-Owner and Vice President of Troublemaker Studios. In addition to producing family and genre films that have collectively grossed more than a billion and a half dollars in box office, she has played a primary role in developing Austin, Texas as a thriving film community.
Avellán began her producing career when she co-founded Los Hooligans Productions in 1991 with Robert Rodriguez as the two began their feature film project “El Mariachi.” Made for just $7,000, “El Mariachi,” was the winner of the 1993 Audience Awards at the Sundance and Deauville Film Festivals. Over the past twenty years, she has produced such films as the “Spy Kids” franchise, “Sin City,” “Predators,” “Machete,” “Desperado,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” among others.
Avellán is dedicated to creating opportunity for undiscovered voices while working diligently with seasoned craftsmen and established filmmakers. She is enthusiastically focused on Latino storytelling, which is very dear to Elizabeth’s heart.
Producer / Post Production Supervisor – Fernando Cano
Fernando S. Cano’s feature films credits include: SYRIANA, SELENA, THE NEWTON BOYS, ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, MISS CONGENIALITY, MISSION PARK / LINE OF DUTY, WISDOM and SANITARIUM, as well as high end shorts, documentaries, music videos, commercials. Some of Fernando’s line producing credits include THE CLETO SHOW (a hybrid sitcom produced for FOX), LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM (a feature documentary directed by Eva Longoria, aired nationally Fall 2010 via Mun2 and MSNBC), and REVOLUTION: A HISTORY OF THE SPORTS BRA and GO SEBASTIEN GO! (two ESPN “30 for 30” mini-docs aired nationally on SportsCenter in Spring 2015 and Spring 2016).
He served as Production Supervisor and Production Coordinator on two PBS/ITVS-funded narrative programs: COME & TAKE IT DAY and the FOTO-NOVELAS II series, respectively. He also produced the PBS documentary AS LONG AS I REMEMBER 2010-2016; broadcast nationally via American Public Television. Recently, he served as President of the San Antonio Film Society and he is on the Texas Film Commission’s Media Development Zone advisory board, a member of the Dallas Producers Association (DPA) and a Film Ambassador for the Fort Worth Film Commission.
Executive Producer for Latino Public Broadcasting – Sandie Viquez Pedlow
Sandie Viquez Pedlow is the Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting, public media’s largest Latino content developer and funder which provides programming to PBS and its multi-media platforms. She brings to this position over 30 years of experience in program development, production, and the development of international public media initiatives. Most recently she was Director, Station Relations for PBS Education where she led the implementation and marketing of PBS online and digital media products and services. Prior to PBS, Pedlow was Director of Programming Strategies, Associate Director of Cultural, Drama and Arts Programming, and Senior Program Officer with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for 10 years. She managed the development and funding of national public broadcasting programs which addressed social issues, history, the arts and many aspects of American culture. Prior to this work, Pedlow developed and produced documentaries, cultural/arts television programs for SCETV and was the U.S. National Coordinator for INPUT, an international public television conference with more than 35 participating countries. She has served on the boards of CINE, The American Documentary, American Playhouse Artistic Committee, INPUT and LPB.
Executive Producer for Black Public Media – Leslie Fields-Cruz
Supervising Producer for Latino Public Broadcasting – Luis Ortiz
Luis Ortiz oversees the development, financing and production of Latino-themed programming which is distributed for broadcast on public television. He manages the operations of the organization, headquartered in Burbank, CA, and maintains the West Coast presence for LPB. He also administers LPB’s Public Media Content Fund process and supervises the distribution of LPB funded programs to PBS. Mr. Ortiz also serves as Series Producer for their signature Latino anthology series Voces, a showcase of documentaries that highlights the rich spectrum of Latino-American culture.
Supervising Producer for Black Public Media – Denise Greene
Denise A. Greene is the Director of Programs at Black Public Media (BPM) overseeing the organization’s key funding (Open Call, PitchBLACK), professional development (360 Incubator+) and distribution initiatives (Be Heard, AfroPop and AfroPop Digital Shorts) for traditional media projects. As the Director, Denise directs the creative vision for BPM’s long standing multi-episode broadcast series, AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange as well as the newest productions, Be Heard and AfroPop Digital Shorts. Denise comes to BPM with experience as an independent filmmaker working in children’s programming (Sesame Street) and documentaries for which she received Emmy (Malcolm X: Make It Plain) and Peabody (I’ll Make Me A World) awards. Denise’s earlier work also includes various positions in the industry including her work with Orlando Bagwell during the launch of the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms unit. With this foundation, Denise embraces the BPM mission to uplift Black storytellers and Black stories in all its rich diversity.
Impact Producer – Jed Riffe
Over the last 30 plus years Jed Riffe produced and directed five award-winning internationally broadcast documentary films including the national Emmy nominated documentary Ishi, the Last Yahi, and produced 20 broadcast documentaries in collaboration with other highly regarded filmmakers. Jed conceived and served as one of three series producers for the California and the American Dream, an independently produced four-hour, nationally broadcast PBS series. He is honored to be a member of FWD-Doc, a Sundance Documentary Film Program Fellow/Alumni and a Gerbode Fellow for Excellence in Non-Profit Management.
Publicist – David Magdael
David Magdael & Associates (DMAG-PR) specializes in publicity and marketing of documentary and independent films. Over the past 20 years, Magdael and his firm has worked on a number of award-winning films and documentaries including: THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL; LIKE A ROLLING STONE – THE LIFE & TIMES OF BEN FONG TORRES; BAD AXE; FREE CHOL SOO LEE; MIJA; FOR SAMA; ASCENSION; MR. SOUL!; 76 DAYS; IN THE SAME BREATH; THE APOLLO; TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM; HUNGER WARD; LA 92; THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE; TRY HARDER!; COURAGE; WALK RUN CHA CHA; SARIA; LIFEBOAT; LITTLE MISS SUMO; BLACK SHEEP; CHANGING THE GAME; MUCHO MUCHO AMOR; A THOUSAND CUTS; MOTHERLAND; HOOLIGAN SPARROW; SOFTIE; PIER KIDS; BUCK; LINGUA FRANCA; BLUE NOTE RECORDS: BEYOND THE NOTES; MAX RICHTER’S SLEEP; WHEN WE WERE BULLIES;WUHAN WUHAN; IN THE SAME BREATH; THE NEUTRAL GROUND; UNAPOLOGETIC; FERGUSON RISES; WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA; A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION; HUNGER WARD; SOFTIE; 63 UP; HALSTON; CRAZY RICH ASIANS; SCIENCE FAIR; GENERAL MAGIC; CALL HER GANDA; UNITED SKATES; BISBEE 17; RUBEN BLADES IS NOT MY NAME; SAMMY DAVIS; JR: IVE GOTTA BE ME; ROLL RED ROLL; CLIVE DAVIS – THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES; SOUTHWEST OF SALEM; MCQUEEN; NATIONAL BIRD; THE EAGLE HUNTRESS; SONITA; MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE; IF A TREE FALLS; LANDFILL HARMONIC; FINDING VIVAN MAIER; EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL; RICH HILL; THE INTERNET’S OWN BOY; ALIVE INSIDE; PARTICLE FEVER; THE SQUARE; AMERICAN PROMISE; BLOOD BROTHER; 1D:3D – THIS IS US; A RIVER CHANGES COURSE; ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW; 5 BROKEN CAMERAS; LEAVE IT ON THE FLOOR; IF A TREE FALLS; WASTELAND; BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*; BEING ELMO; SEMPER FI: ALWAYS FAITHFUL; LAST TRAIN HOME; THE OATH; THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES; MAD HOT BALLROOM; CONTROL ROOM; TROUBLE THE WATER; THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS; SUPER SIZE ME and others for theatrical runs, streaming, broadcast and Oscar and Emmy campaigns.
Fill out the form below to join our
mission to complete this project
mission to complete this project