Erika Valenciana

is an award-winning Chicana filmmaker from Chicago. She is a Film & Video graduate of Columbia College Chicago. Her films have screened at festivals internationally. Valenciana amplifies the voices of her local community of filmmakers of color through the Mezcla Media Collective, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, and as a mentor for Kartemquin Films Diverse Voices in Docs. She uses film to share underrepresented stories building towards a media landscape where diverse experiences are visible and celebrated.

Recently, Valenciana was awarded an Illinois Arts Council Creative Projects Grant for her upcoming untitled Alaska documentary. She has served on the jury of Cinefestival and the Frozen River Film Festival. Valenciana currently serves on the board of the Frozen River Film Festival. Valenciana has been a reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts, Kartemquin Films Diverse Voices in Docs, and Stowe Story Labs.

For her feature length comedy script in development ¡The Punk Show in Chicago!, Valenciana won Chicago International Film Festival’s Industry Days: The Pitch, and 2nd Place in Columbia College’s Written Image Award, & finalist at the Anchorage Film Festival. She participated in Cine Qua Non Lab, as a Diverse Voices Fellow at Stowe Story Labs Fall Narrative Lab, and was a Development Grant Recipient for the Stowe Fall Writers Retreat. Valenciana workshopped the script as a part of Chicago International Film Festival’s CIX: Cinema Exchange Lab.

She was awarded an OTV Atlas Fund for her short documentary Brewer. The film was also awarded a Kartemquin Films Emerging Storyteller Grant, two DePaul University grants, and a successful crowdfunding campaign. With Brewer, Valenciana was a pitch finalist for Tribeca Film Institute’s IF/Then Shorts. Brewer premiered was at the Academy Award qualifying St. Louis Film Festival.

Valenciana’s short documentary Broken Flight played at festivals including Blackstar, Chicago International, and Mountainfilm. The film received Jury & Audience winner Best Doc Short at Anchorage International Film Festival, Best Short & Best Documentary at Sheboygan Film Festival, Honorable Mention Best Short at DC Environmental Film Festival and Hero Award at Better Cities Film Festival. Broken Flight received grants from the Puffin Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, and two from Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs.. The film was a part of the KTQ Labs program & a Vantage Grant Pitch finalist at DC Environmental Film Festival, where the film premiered the following year. The film is currently a part of Mezcla Media Collective’s Shades of Chicago program.

For her short documentary La Mitad del Mundo, Valenciana received Best Documentary Director at DTLA Film Festival & Festival Internacional Independiente Madrid, Best of Fest at Ocean City Film Festival, Female Filmmaker Best Documentary at Reading Film Fest, and Special Mention at Festival Internacional Cine de Quito. She workshopped the film as a fellow for Kartemquin Films’ Diverse Voices in Docs. La Mitad del Mundo received a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a Changing Worlds’ Survive & Thrive Grant, and two grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.The film premiered as a part of Full Spectrum Features’ The Chicago Cinema Exchange: Mexico City.

Valenciana has been a presenter at The Allied Media Conference, and The South By Southwest Edu Conference. She has facilitated stop motion animation workshops for Frozen River Film Festival, Sheboygan Film Festival, and Port Townsend Film Festival.

Erika Valenciana is very big in Sheboygan.