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. Currently, she is Producer for American Sons along with Andrew Gonzales (Producer/Director), which will have its PBS premiere in 2025. This film has been funded by California Humanities, Latino Public Broadcasting and is the recipient of the Jacquie Jones Memorial 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 California Humanities, The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Humanities Texas, Latino Public Broadcasting’s Public Media Content Fund, and ITVS Diversity Development Fund. Varela is an award-winning filmmaker and lectures and screens her work nationally, internationally and 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 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 and Faust Academy in Germany.
