Laura Varela’s work is influenced by growing up on the US/Mexico Border in El Paso, Texas.  Her work explores ideological, cultural, linguistic and physical borders through the use of film and contemporary art installations. She has received awards from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Humanities Texas,and Latino Public Broadcasting’s Public Media Content Fund and ITVS.  Her installation work has exhibited at several galleries and museums including the San Antonio Museum of Art, Art Pace, The Blue Star Center for Contemporary Art, the UTSA Downtown Gallery and Luminaria SA. She has also taught courses on documentary film at the University of Texas San Antonio; she still lectures and screens her work nationally and internationally. She is a alumni of the PBS Producer’s Academy, The NALIP Producer’s Academy,  and the University of Texas Radio TV and Film program and started her film career working on feature films, most notably Selena.

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