For the last twenty years Chicano filmmaker Miguel Alvarez has been telling stories that, in some way, are indicative of his cultural upbringing as a second generation Mexican-American. He has garnered awards from the Directors’ Guild of America, Panavision’s Emerging Filmmaker program, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. His most recent film, Atlantic City, a tale of two drifters in San Antonio, Texas, was an inaugural participant in the Kodak + Kickstarter Initiative. He is also a Screenwriting Fellow of the Latino Screenwriting Project sponsored by Cinefestival and Sundance for his sci-fi feature screenplay, La Perdida. Miguel’s documentary short on Latino voting obstacles, The Giant Still Sleeps, was commissioned by the Washington Post and PBS for the 2016 election. His other short documentary, Veterans, was an exploration of his father and grandfather’s relationship through their wartime experiences. His “haunting” short film Mnemosyne Rising, about a sole transmitter pilot in space plagued by memories of home, has amassed 216,000 views on YouTube. KID, a film about a thirteen-year old boy and his estranged father, was described by the late actor Bill Paxton as “a simple, yet beautiful film.” Tadpoles, a non-dialogue, purely visual, narrative film on the terrible realities of war, is a staple in several university film classes across the country. His work has screened at numerous festivals, including SXSW, Tribeca, and Aspen Shorts, as well as internationally in Korea, Russia, Japan, and throughout Europe. Miguel also served for eight years as Executive Producer for Austin Film Festival's award-winning television show, On Story. He holds both a BS in Mechanical Engineering and MFA in Film Production from the University of Texas at Austin where he continues to teach today.