Jury 2026
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J. Xavier Velasco
Award-Winning Director of Zerch, Above & Below The Waves at Ariel Awards, Biarritz, Pantalla de Cristal, Valle de Guadalupe Film Festivals, Vimeo Staff Picks, Founder of Protofilms LLC
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Adriana Trujillo
Director of Cine Tonalá Tijuana, Cinema Parallels, Programmer of Frontera Filmmakers at San Diego Latino Film Festival, Juror for FOPROCINE, Plataforma DOCSMX, Jóvenes Creadores, Los Angeles Film Festival, DocuLab Guadalajara, Founder of BorDocs
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Adrian Saravia
Co-Founder of Animal Politico, Award-Winning Creative Director of ViX at Apple TV, Founder of Timelabs
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Rodrigo Reyes BAFTA
Award-Winning Director of Sansón y yo, 499, Lupe Under the Sun, Purgatorio at Sundance, Tribeca, Brooklyn, San Francisco, San Diego Latino, Cinema Tropical, Valle de Guadalupe Film Festivals, Creative Capital Award, Fundación Guggenheim, Rainin Artist Fellowship, United States Artists, SF Indie Vanguard, acquired by The Criterion Collection, British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), Video Consortium, Cine Roxie Member, Masterclasses at Stanford, University of California, Berkeley, Los Ángeles, Santa Cruz, Princeton, New School, DOCSMX
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Karl Pettersen
Sustainability Leader, Managing Director at Score Group, Award-Winning Creative Producer & Music Composer for Pégame & La Pura Vida at East Village New York, Dubai, Berlin Motion Pictures, Swedish Academy of Motion Pictures, London Movie Awards & WilliFest Film Festivals, Top 100 Innovators & Entrepreneurs 2024, Ex-Chief Sustainability Officer at Société Générale NY, Founder of Pettersen Consulting
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Alejandro Mejia AMC
Award-Winning Director of Photography for In the Summers, 499, The Knife, Sons of Monarch at Tribeca, Sundance, Camerimage Film Festivals, Panavision Award, Critics’ Choice Nominee, Mexican Society of Cinematographers (AMC)
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Petra Korner ICG, BAFTA
Award-Winning Director of Photography at Sundance, Sunscreen, Brooklyn Film Festivals, Women in Film Crystal Award, Kodak Vision, British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) Voting Member, Camerimage Juror, International Cinematographers Guild (ICG), Austrian Society of Cinematographers (AAC)
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Alessio Giorgetti
Award-Winning Filmmaker at Honolulu Film Festival, Programming Director of Malastrana Film Series Giallo Fever! Anthology Film Archives NYC
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Armando Croda
Award-Winning Director-Editor of Ya me voy, Loudmouth, Jay Myself, Straighten Up & Fly Right at Guadalajara, Slamdance, Streamed on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Showtime, Founder of MU Media
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Pete Chatmon DGA
Director of Showtime's Yellowjackets, Premium, HBO's The Flight Attendant, Insecure, Silicon Valley, Love Life, BlackCard, Starz' Power: Origins, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Blindspotting, Netflix's You, Dead Boy Detectives, Hulu's Reasonable Doubt, Interior Chinatown, Paramount Plus' Fatal Attraction, CBS's Ghosts, NCIS: Origins, ABC's High Potential, Grey's Anatomy, Black ish, FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Apple TV+ Mythic Quest, NAACP Image Awards Nominated, Directors Guild of America (DGA)
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Nikola Chapelle
Audio Engineer of Netflix’s The Great Hack, The Edge of Democracy, Kumeyaay Land, Eugene Jarecki’s The King, Once Upon a Time in Uganda at SXSW, Sundance, Tribeca, Red Nation, Shorts México, WilliFest Film Festivals, Co-Founder of Paris-based Audio Company Kraft
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Lilia Arellano Rodriguez
Collaborator and Researcher of Dictionary of Mexican Film Directors
Members
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Eva Aridjis
Award-Winning Director of Chuy el hombre lobo, The Favor, La Santa Muerte, Ninos de la calle at Ariel Awards, Trieste, Valle de Guadalupe, Morelia Film Festivals, Screenwriter of Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico
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Sebastián Díaz
Emmy-Award PBS Editor of Turning Point, Cypress Hill, Op-Docs, Award-Winning Director A Thousand Pines, Tonita’s, Tierra brillante at San Diego Latino Film Festival, Co-Founder of Union Docs NYC
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Julia Gorbach
Emmy Award-Winner Creative Producer for {The And}, The Dig, Founding Member of The Skin Deep, Founder of Wild Minds
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Idil Ibrahim
Award-Winning Director of Tribeca Studios’ In Her Element, Hurricane, Sega at BlackStar, Zanzibar, Sundance, Cinéma du Réel, Rotterdam, Toronto Festival, acquired by Canal+
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Pepe Mogt
Grammy-Award Artist, Fussible, Founder of Nortec Collective
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Antonio Scarlata DGA
Director of Showtime’s 7 Deadly Sins, HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Funny or Die’s Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie, Mansome: The Series, Directors Guild of America (DGA), Founder of Skar Studios LLC
Festival de Cine del Valle de Guadalupe A.C. Team
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Dylan Riis Verrechia
Festival Co-Founder, Festival Director, Award-Winning Auteur-Director (with ankylosing spondylitis disability) of Kumeyaay Land, La Pura Vida, Tierra Madre, Tijuana Makes Me Happy & Kids of the Majestic at Morelia, Slamdance, Red Nation, Chicago LGTBQ+, Executive Producer of Verrechia Films LLC (Arakimentari, Padre Nuestro), videos for The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West, Beck, Wu-Tang Clan, Nortec, winner at Sundance, SXSW, Chicago, BFF, streamed on HBO, Canal+, Netflix, Cineclick, Amazon, iTunes, MUBI)
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Aurelia Ojeda Mélendrez
Festival Co-Founder, Kumeyaay Community Leader, Shorts México, WilliFest & Red Nation Film Festival Award-Winner Producer of Kumeyaay Land, Famed Artist & Traditional Kumeyaay Basket Weaver, Award-Winner Premio Nacional de Arte Popular, Concurso Nacional de Fibras Vegetales de Campeche, Concurso Nacional Grandes Maestros del Patrimonio Artesanal de México (FONART), Teacher at CECUT’s Community Program
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Angel Díaz Ojeda
Festival Co-Founder, Master of Ceremony & Community Screenings Organizer, Shorts México, WilliFest & Red Nation Film Festival Award-Winner Producer of Kumeyaay Land, Director of Indigenous Communities in the Department of Social Inclusion & Gender Equality, Kumeyaay Leader & Bule Singer, Founder of Auka®
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Arturo Arreola Cortez
Festival Co-Founder, Founder of Café ConCiente, Founder of Fenestra, Founder of Brujas Kombucha, Oceanography Consultant, Fermentist, Barista Master
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Leidy Robles
Festival Program Coordinator, Chef in Award-Winning Feature Film Pégame
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Yaquelin Díaz Ojeda
KURRAK Film Awards Creator, Award-Winner Kumeyaay Artist
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Gilberto Chi Montes
VGFF Team Member, Master Chef, Dubaï Film Festival & Swedish Academy Motion Pictures Award-Winner Actor of Pégame, Metal Worker Craftsman Master of San José de la Zorra, Rancher
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Luna Ixel Zamudio
VGFF MC, Director of Té de Ruda, Red Nation Film Festival Award-Winner Actress in Kumeyaay Land, Student at Escuela Nacional de Artes Cinematográficas at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Student at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
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Ruby Chi
VGFF Hostess, Award-Winner Actress in Pégame
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Joshua Yair Ayala
VGFF Tech, Technician in Computer Equipment Repair at Compra Perfecta, P.T.B. in Computer Science, Technician in Audio and Projection
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Martha Montes Castañeda
Honorary Member, Founder of Tipey Joa, National Advisor for the Kumiai Nation in Mexico, Board of Directors of the ACLU San Diego & Imperial County, Professor at Cuyamaca College
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Tru Miller
Honorary Member, Founder of Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards & Inn