Juan Freitez

Juan Freitez is a Venezuelan filmmaker and video journalist. Human rights, multiculturalism and immigration are recurring topics in his work as the founder and director of Community Grassroots Media. His documentary shorts highlighting social and political issues in underrepresented communities have been featured by NPR, PRI's The World, NBC News, The National Journal, and The Huffington Post. An immigrant himself, Freitez fundamentally understands the difficulties and discrimination facing immigrants. His first feature length documentary, HEALTH UNDOCUMENTED (SALUD SIN PAPELES), awarded him several grants including the highly competitive Artist Research and Development Grant from The Arizona Commission on the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts in 2016. HEALTH UNDOCUMENTED has screened at national and international film festivals and has been translated into multiple languages including Spanish, Hindi and Malay. Freitez has been hosted by renowned universities, including Stanford, NYU, Georgetown, and UCSD to present his work and lead discussions about the communities and topics documented in his films. Most recently, Freitez presented HEALTH UNDOCUMENTED at impact conferences including the North American Refugee Health Conference 2019, Netroots Nation 2019 and the American Public Health Association 2020. He is currently producing and directing a docu-series about language discrimination and implicit bias in the United States. His next feature-length film documenting the life of migrant workers is in preproduction.