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American Sons Documentary Team

bio-andrew-gonzales

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.

bio-laura

Producer – Laura Varela

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 boundaries 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 role as a Producer/Director for documentary films and a digital consultant further underscores her commitment to social justice movements and her life’s work in service to her community. 

American Sons will have its PBS premiere in 2025 and World Premiere at SXSW 2025. This film has been funded by California Humanities and Latino Public Broadcasting, and she is the recipient of the Jacquie Jones Memorial Scholars Fund by Black Public Media.

Varela’s documentary, As Long as I Remember: American Veteranos, was broadcast on PBS from 2010 to 2016 via American Public Television. Un Trip: raúlrsalinas and The Poetry of Liberation, a film (documentary short) by Anne Lewis and Laura Varela, is currently on its film festival run and has won numerous awards. Her films have received funding from the California Humanities Documentary Fund, The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Humanities Texas, Latino Public Broadcasting’s Public Media Content Fund,   ITVS Diversity Development Fund, and the  Bexar County Public Arts Fund. Varela is an award-winning filmmaker and lectures and screens her work nationally, internationally at cultural centers and Universities.  She has taught classes on documentary film 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 University of Texas Department of Radio-TV and Film graduate. Artist Residencies include Swarthmore College, Art for Change, NYC, and the Hochschule Niederrhein, Faust Academy, and the University of Bielefeld in Germany.

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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.

bio-fernando

 

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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