American Sons Documentary Team
American Sons Documentary Team
Producer / Director – Andrew Gonzales
Andrew Gonzales is a versatile documentary filmmaker, director, editor, and cinematographer. His recent documentary shorts, including “STANDING ROCK: A NEW NATION,” “HERE: THE GARRETT SCOTT STORY,” and “RIGHT IN FRONT OF US,” tackle pressing issues such as environmental activism, disability rights, and the US-Mexico border crisis.
Beyond his documentary work, he produces content for agencies focused on corporate responsibility, green technology, and social change. 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
Laura is a documentary filmmaker whose work is shaped by her roots growing up on the US/Mexico border in El Paso, TX. Her work crosses cultural, linguistic and physical borders through the use of film and contemporary art installations. She now resides in San Antonio, TX where she works as a filmmaker and artist. Varelafilm recently merged with Xica Media, a mission driven creative agency and digital networks that works in the intersections of art, culture and social justice.
Varela’s documentary, As Long as I Remember:American Veteranos was broadcast on PBS from 2010 to 2016. She is currently producing and directing the documentary, raul salinas: The Poetry of Liberation for PBS. She is a recipient of awards from The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Humanities Texas, Latino Public Broadcasting’s Public Media Content Fund, ITVS and Best Director Award from the San Antonio Film Festival.
Varela lectures and screens her work around the country and internationally at various cultural centers and Universities; in recent years has taught courses on documentary film at the University of Texas San Antonio. She is alumni of the CPB/PBS Producers academy, the NALAC Leadership Institute, the NALIP Producers Academy, Creative Capital Professional Development Workshop. Artist Residencies include Swarthmore College, Art for Change in NYC, and the Hochschule Niederrhein and Faust Academy in Germany.
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.
Consulting Producer – 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.
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