Pedro Valiente

Award winning filmmaker Pedro Valiente has directed films, multimedia art, and visual theater. He has received two awards in Berlinale and an Emmy nomination; near sixty honors including screenings in over a hundred film festivals (Sundance, SXSW); TV (PBS, BBC, TVE, Canal+); three presentations at MoMA; Whitney Art Biennial, and Lincoln Center. He started in film in New York, where he studied and worked for over ten years. He also lived in Mexico City for five years, and recently in the UK. Pedro wrote: "I'm exploring new narratives and technology as my work turns interdisciplinary and multicultural on the idea 'ecology of souls'." Recent projects are Multiple Portraits (2023) video installation trilogy; and You Are Mythical (2018), documentary feature film connecting daily life and classic myths that won awards in two film festivals in L.A. [New York Spin] "Part experimental tone poem, part heartfelt elegy for 9/11 and part paean to the cultural richness of Gotham, [NYS] focuses on six New Yorkers. [...] This engrossing, imagistic portrait of the city and its denizens should prove a welcome short addition to fest and arty cable lineups." Ronnie Scheib, Variety. "This film shows filmmaking talent." Carole Dean, Roy W. Dean Foundation, NY. "I'm fascinated by this project: concept, people, structure, everything intrigues me." Deborah Cravey, Digital Media Center, Portland. [Cuba 15] "It's as delightful as anything I've seen upon a television screen." Robert Lloyd, LA Times. "She's irresistible. We learn more from her in 15min than from a half-dozen feature documentaries." Amy Taubin, NY The Village Voice. In New York, Pedro started producing Cuba 15 by Elizabeth Schub, Jury Prize and Audience Award Best Short Film at Berlinale (Panorama), selected in over 40 festivals, and aired on POV (PBS). He worked mostly as assistant director in a dozen of projects including films produced by Steven Soderbergh and Spike Lee; worked for Saturday Night Live (NBC), Time Warner, and Vivendi Universal; and collaborated with Rockefeller Foundation. He coproduced Forgetful ft. Ana Torrent, short film by New York University graduates that gathered 16 awards. In Mexico City, he directed TV series and coproduced short films at Espacio by Televisa. In visual theater, Pedro worked with Robert Wilson for three years on video design for The Days Before ft. Isabella Rossellini, with text by Umberto Eco, and music by Ryuichi Sakamoto; wrote a PhD dissertation and a book series on his work; attended workshops with the Wooster Group (cofounder Willem Dafoe), Trisha Brown Dance Company, and Atsushi Takenouchi. In Mexico City, he contributed to introduce Japanese butoh dance at the National Center for the Arts. In his early career in Madrid, he coordinated a theater-dance company inspired by Joan Brossa and Kazuo Ohno; and directed a university theater company making an early use of video on stage, and premieres by Bernard-Marie Koltès, Sergi Belbel, and Julio Cortázar. Project development in over twenty countries includes New York Film Academy (International Relations director), edX by MIT/Harvard University (Film MOOC coproducer), Arts University Plymouth, UK (BA Contemporary Media Practice program leader), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (European Arts Project media director), Tecnológico de Monterrey (lecturer), and Cancun Riviera Maya International Film Festival, MX (director). In the frame of Work Integrated Learning, Pedro has lectured on new programs in emerging markets. PhD Audiovisual Creativity and Production, MA Cinema Studies (Madrid). Training in Film, Photo, Writing, Theater/Dance (NY), and Visual Art (UK).