Long and short form documentaries made with integrity.
Director | Constance | Short Documentary PBS’ Independent Lens | TRT: 12:39
Elected in 2019, District Attorney Constance Filley Johnson of Victoria, Texas has an agenda. A lifelong Republican, Filley Johnson aims to implement and expand alternative sentencing in her community through specialty courts, programs that involve rigorous outpatient treatment, counselling, training, and accountability as an alternative to jail time for nonviolent offenders. In order to be successful, these programs must have active support from local judges, but there is resistance to the non-punitive approach in this small town. As seen in this short documentary, Filley Johnson can persuade conservative Judge Eli Garza to participate in her DWI and drug courts, she has a chance at making a tangible change to the lives of individuals caught up in the criminal justice system.
THE TROUBLE I SEE
Producer/ Co-director | Feature documentary in post production, with support from Austin Film Society and Virginia for the Humanities and the Hot Springs Doc Fest Forum. How does a family survive when they are forced apart? The Trouble I See is a character-based documentary that follows two families each impacted by the incarceration of their primary caregiver. The emotional core of the film is a father daughter dance that takes place in the Richmond City Jail in Virginia.
Director | Dead & Buried | Short Documentary | PBS Digital Studios Voices | TRT: 11:58
There’s a movement afoot to remove the stigma around end-of-life, in unusual and unorthodox ways. From Death Cafes to #DeathTok to Fake Funerals, the overarching goal of all of these efforts is to destigmatize death, to take away the dread and avoidance. When we accept that we all die and ‘embrace’ the end of life, we can plan a better end AND a better life.
Made possible with funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Writer/Producer | Dead & Buried | Short Documentary | PBS Digital Studios Voices | TRT: 7:58 Headstones are a traditional form of memorialization that loved one's of the deceased can visit time and time again. What if there were such a thing as "walking memorials"? There is. All around the world, and primarily within Black and Brown communities in the U.S., individuals have created wearable and visual memorialization like jewelry, shoes and R.I.P t-shirts to honor deceased loved ones, who were usually unjustly and violently killed. In our final episode of Dead and Buried, Curly Velasquez explores the rise of R.I.P T-Shirts in the U.S., how they've functioned as a tool for social activism, and a way to keep loved one close, and their memory alive.
Made possible with funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Director | Dead & Buried | Short Documentary | PBS Digital Studios Voices | TRT: 9:30 What lies behind the wish to hasten the end of your life? And what does that process involve for someone with a terminal prognosis? In this episode, Curly Velasquez explores current legal parameters, surprising facts, common myths, and a brief history of medical aid in dying. Made possible with funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND
Producer/ Director Short documentary commissioned by the Trust for Public Land to commemorate the 144th Homecoming in Nicodemus, Kansas. One of the most important places in the African-American experience is the Nicodemus National Historic Site, which is the only remaining all-black town west of the Mississippi River.
EXPERIMENTAL: THE ART OF FIGHTING
Producer/ Director Winner of the Lavazza Student Film Award
EXPERIMENTAL: He USED TO BE A MAJOR
Producer/ Director/ Editor Screend at DCTV NYC