Aurora Guerrero is a queer-identified, Chicana writer-director from
California. Described as activist first and filmmaker second, Guerrero
focuses on collaborative work with her communities creating art forms
that offer opportunities for dialogue and education.Guerrero was born
in the Mission District of San Francisco, California to Mexican
immigrant parents, later growing up on the border of Richmond and El
Cerritos cities, while working at her parents small Mexican restaurant
in Berkeley. Guerrero studied both Psychology and Chicano studies at
University of California, Berkeley completing a Bachelor of Arts. She
later moved to Los Angeles to study directing at California Institute
of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California earning a Master of Fine
Arts. Her narrative work often examines the intersection of the
working class, queer, and of color.Early in her career, she co-founded
Womyn Image Makers (WIM) along with Dalila Mendez, Maritza Alvarez and
Claudia Mercado. As WIM, in 2005, she directed the short film Pura
Lengua, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Her second short
film, Viernes Girl, won the 2005 HBO/New York International Latino
Film Festival short film competition. Both films caught the attention
of film institutions such as Sundance, Tribeca, and Film Independent.
Guerrero also went on to assist director Patricia Cardoso on her debut
feature Real Women Have Curves, which won the Sundance Film Festival
Audience Award in 2002. In 2005 Guerrero was selected as a Sundance
Institute Ford Foundation film fellow. While there, she participated
in the Native Indigenous Lab with her script for Mosquita y Mari.In
2012, Guerrero made her feature film debut at the Sundance Film
Festival with Mosquita y Mari, becoming the first Chicana filmmaker to
debut a feature-length film who was also previously a Sundance
Institute and Ford Foundation Fellow. Mosquita y Mari has since
traveled over 100 film festivals including San Francisco
International, Melbourne, Guadalajara, Sao Paulo, and has garnered
multiple awards including Best First Feature at Outfest and Best U.S.
Latino FIlm at NY's Cinema Tropical while picking up Spirit Award and
GLAAD nominations for Best First Feature Under 500k and the Piaget's
Producer's Award. The film tells the coming-of-age story of two teen
Chicanas in Huntington Park, California who form a relationship
ignited by sexual attraction. Guerrero describes an attraction to
speaking about “actual violence within silence,†taboo subjects
that are not easily spoken about between parents and children.
Guerrero also hoped that LGBT Latino audiences would see themselves
validated by the filmâ€"much as Guerrero herself felt when, as an
undergraduate student, she encountered the work of feminist Chicana
writers Gloria Anzaldúa and CherrÃe Moraga.
California. Described as activist first and filmmaker second, Guerrero
focuses on collaborative work with her communities creating art forms
that offer opportunities for dialogue and education.Guerrero was born
in the Mission District of San Francisco, California to Mexican
immigrant parents, later growing up on the border of Richmond and El
Cerritos cities, while working at her parents small Mexican restaurant
in Berkeley. Guerrero studied both Psychology and Chicano studies at
University of California, Berkeley completing a Bachelor of Arts. She
later moved to Los Angeles to study directing at California Institute
of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California earning a Master of Fine
Arts. Her narrative work often examines the intersection of the
working class, queer, and of color.Early in her career, she co-founded
Womyn Image Makers (WIM) along with Dalila Mendez, Maritza Alvarez and
Claudia Mercado. As WIM, in 2005, she directed the short film Pura
Lengua, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Her second short
film, Viernes Girl, won the 2005 HBO/New York International Latino
Film Festival short film competition. Both films caught the attention
of film institutions such as Sundance, Tribeca, and Film Independent.
Guerrero also went on to assist director Patricia Cardoso on her debut
feature Real Women Have Curves, which won the Sundance Film Festival
Audience Award in 2002. In 2005 Guerrero was selected as a Sundance
Institute Ford Foundation film fellow. While there, she participated
in the Native Indigenous Lab with her script for Mosquita y Mari.In
2012, Guerrero made her feature film debut at the Sundance Film
Festival with Mosquita y Mari, becoming the first Chicana filmmaker to
debut a feature-length film who was also previously a Sundance
Institute and Ford Foundation Fellow. Mosquita y Mari has since
traveled over 100 film festivals including San Francisco
International, Melbourne, Guadalajara, Sao Paulo, and has garnered
multiple awards including Best First Feature at Outfest and Best U.S.
Latino FIlm at NY's Cinema Tropical while picking up Spirit Award and
GLAAD nominations for Best First Feature Under 500k and the Piaget's
Producer's Award. The film tells the coming-of-age story of two teen
Chicanas in Huntington Park, California who form a relationship
ignited by sexual attraction. Guerrero describes an attraction to
speaking about “actual violence within silence,†taboo subjects
that are not easily spoken about between parents and children.
Guerrero also hoped that LGBT Latino audiences would see themselves
validated by the filmâ€"much as Guerrero herself felt when, as an
undergraduate student, she encountered the work of feminist Chicana
writers Gloria Anzaldúa and CherrÃe Moraga.
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