Borderlands Studios launches at ASU California Center
People pose for a group photo during the ASU Borderlands Studios “The Border is a Story: 2024” convening at the ASU California Broadway Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 21. Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
Twenty acclaimed storytellers, including five MacArthur Fellows and two Grammy Award-winning musicians, gathered in downtown Los Angeles, Sept. 19–22, for "The Border is a Story" convening — marking the launch of Borderlands Studios, a groundbreaking initiative within The Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University.
The eventCo-hosted by MacArthur Fellow Kelly Lytle Hernandez of UCLA and Andrew Friedman of The Action Lab, the convening was supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Partners in Kind and the TomKat Foundation. Participants included MacArthur Fellow Jason De Leon and Grammy Award-winning artists and musicians Quetzal Flores and Martha Gonzalez. also introduced the inaugural cohort of the Borderlands Visionary Fellowship, a program designed to support mid-career filmmakers telling stories rooted in the borderlands experience.
At the Sept. 19 welcome reception, Texas Representative Joaquin Castro, a long-time advocate for Latino representation in media, delivered video remarks highlighting the importance of this initiative in amplifying diverse voices in the film industry.
“Like many of you, I've been tracking the lack of Latino voices in film production, and I see how that exclusion affects the way their stories are told,” Castro said. “Right now, as you know, we’re in the thick of a political season that's defined by a narrative crisis around the border. There's just too much hate and not enough imagination or compassion.
"We need better stories, and also truer stories. Our community has always had talented storytellers, but too often, they struggle to get their voices heard. That's why I'm excited to see the launch of Borderlands Studios, which aims to fill that void with world-class films in a nonprofit studio.”
“The creation of Borderlands Studios and its Visionary Fellowship elevates crucial creative voices at a time when they most need to be heard,” said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, founding director of The Sidney Poitier New American Film School. “I am honored to welcome the new Borderlands Fellows as they help fulfill the promise of The Poitier Film School to uphold the legacy of its namesake by disrupting the status quo and breaking down barriers to educational and cinematic equity.”
Founded by celebrated filmmakers and MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellows Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, Borderlands Studios is committed to developing and producing stories that challenge conventional narratives about the borderlands.
The studio provides a vital space for filmmakers who bring socially grounded, cinematically elevated stories to life.
“With Borderlands, we’re building a nonprofit studio that nurtures visionary filmmakers who transgress and transcend artistic boundaries,” Ibarra said. “Partnering with ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School to create a new filmmaking home for artists driven by creativity and social impact is deeply exciting. It takes a visionary institution to invest in independent filmmakers when the industry is becoming more and more risk averse.”
Meet the inaugural Borderlands Visionary Fellows
Cecilia Aldarondo is a Guggenheim-winning writer/producer from the Puerto Rican diaspora, known for her acclaimed documentaries “Memories of a Penitent Heart,” “Landfall” and “You Were My First Boyfriend.”
Peter Bratt is a Rockefeller Fellow, Peabody Award winner, and Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose work includes the Sundance award-winning “Follow Me Home.”
Aurora Guerrero is a Chicana activist and filmmaker. You may recognize her debut feature “Mosquita y Mari” — which premiered at Sundance — or her series “Sanctuary" on Apple TV+.
Rodrigo Reyes is a Guggenheim Fellow and award-winning filmmaker whose most recent work, “Sansón and Me,” was featured in the prestigious documentary series "Independent Lens."
Each fellow will receive a $50,000 unrestricted grant to develop new films, along with access to state-of-the-art resources across ASU’s Los Angeles, Tempe and Mesa locations. These resources include virtual production stages, sound-mixing and color-correction facilities, and digital camera equipment.
“‘The Border is a Story’ brought together an extraordinary group of people doing extraordinary work who rarely get to share space together,” Aldorando said. “As a filmmaker, I derive a great deal of inspiration from activists, historians and other artists, and to cross-pollinate with people doing leading-edge work in all things borderlands, I felt equal parts supported and inspired by this incredible group.”
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Cristina Ibarra, filmmaker and associate professor at ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School, speaks during the ASU Borderlands Studios “The Border is a Story: 2024” event, a three-day convening and creative exchange bringing together 20 accomplished storytellers working on the cultural, social and political “borderlands,” at the ASU California Broadway Center in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 21. Ibarra is a co-founder of Borderlands Studios.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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Alex Rivera, filmmaker and associate professor at ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School, speaks during the ASU Borderlands Studios convening. Rivera is a co-founder of Borderlands Studios.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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Silky Shah, executive director at the Detention Watch Network and author of “Unbuild Walls” speaks during the ASU Borderlands Studios convening.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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Roberto Lovato, teacher, journalist and writer, speaks during the ASU Borderlands Studios convening.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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Guerline Jozef, human rights advocate, speaks during the ASU Borderlands Studios event.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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