As a mission driven storyteller, Valeria pursues to champion global, underrepresented narratives, in hopes of using the power of story to advance and elevate social change. Her work is inspired by her binational upbringing along the U.S.-Mexico Border, as well as the experience she gained leading projects and programs in the social, political, and public sector. She is an alum of the Harris-Walz 2024 and Beto O’Rourke 2020 presidential campaigns.

Valeria is a Producers Guild of America Create Fellow and Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow. She has produced a slate of short films including NOT MY NAME, a Spanish language drama filmed in Colombia, which won the Focus Features Award for Social and Cultural Impact and was selected for Bogoshorts. Other works include SIDE ROADS, selected for the Urbanworld Film Festival and WOLF AT THE DOOR which won Best Short at the Iberoamerican Film Festival in Miami. Also a writer/director, Valeria’s first short film, HOMESICK, was selected for various festivals, including the Atlanta Film Festival. She has served on the Young Mezcal Jury for the Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara.

Valeria is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Columbia University, where she received her Master’s in Fine Arts in Film & Creative Producing and was recognized with the Michael Hausman/Buffalo Mike Filmhaus Foundation Award as well as the 3Pas Studios Award for Underrepresented Filmmakers.

PRESS

Deadline, May 8, 2024. “Producers Guild Sets Scripted Producers & Producing Teams For PGA Create Program.” The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has set the producers and producing teams invited to join the PGA Create lab for emerging and mid-career creative producers.

Deadline, October 11, 2023. “Film Independent Sets Producing Lab Fellows For 2023.” Film Independent has set seven filmmakers for the 2023 edition of its Producing Lab, an intensive program designed to help creative, independent producers develop their skills and further their careers.

Film Independent, October 11, 2023. “2023 Film Independent Producing Lab Fellows Unite. Bonus: $80,000 in Sloan Grants!” Meet the fellows.

The Austin Chronicle, June 27, 2023. “Cine Las Americas Review: 7th Annual Femme Frontera Filmmakers Showcase.” Short films selection looks at border life through multiple lenses.

Columbia University School of the Arts, April 21, 2023. “Columbia Filmmakers at 2023 Atlanta Film Festival.” Columbia filmmakers are making waves at this year’s 47th annual Atlanta Film Festival.

HONORS & AWARDS

PGA Create Fellow (2024)

Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow (2023)

“The Shorter the Better,” Panelist at the El Paso Film Festival, Hosted by the El Paso Film and Creative Industries Commission (2023) 

Austin Film Festival Script Reader (2023)

Young Mezcal Jury at the Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (2023)

Michael Hausman/Buffalo Mike Filmhaus Foundation Award for Excellence in Producing (2023)

Columbia University Alumni Association Scholar (2022)

3Pas Studios Production Award for Underrepresented Filmmakers (2022)

Katharina Otto-Bernstein Mentorship and Development Prize (2022)

Student Symposium at the Telluride Film Festival (2022)