Brenda Avila-Hanna

Brenda Ávila-Hanna is a filmmaker and educator born and raised in Mexico City and currently based in California’s Central Coast. Her films mostly focus on transnational stories, spaces and identities. Her work has been showcased at HotDocs, Lakino Berlin, Frameline, HBO and Fusion Network among others. Brenda is a current fellow for Sundance’s Documentary Producers Lab, part of the inaugural cohort of DOC NYC’s “Documentary Industry New Leaders” and a 2021 Rockwood/Just Films Fellow. She recently produced Emergent City (Dir. Kelly Anderson/Jay Sterrenberg), which premiered at Tribeca Festival 2024 and broadcasted on POV/PBS. Brenda received an M.A. in Social Documentation from UCSC, where she teaches storytelling courses.