A.P. Gonzalez

A.P. Gonzalez was born "Alfred Peter" in San Antonio, Texas; his parents are Tejanos as well. The family moved to Los Angeles when A.P. was only two-years-old although he spent every summer visiting grandparents in Texas until he was about 16. A.P. went to Loyola High School in Los Angeles and followed that Jesuit education with a BA in English at the University of Southern California. He later earned an MA in English & American Literature and another MA in Film from San Francisco State University. A.P. is a writer, director and producer, who honed his filmmaking skills in San Francisco during the 1980s while founding his own production company, In Camera Film and Video. His indie feature, Clay Farmers, was awarded AFI and Billboard Magazine's Best-Fiction AVC Award as well as being broadcast internationally by the BBC, TV-3 Barcelona and Canada's Knowledge Network, among others. Gonzalez is the recipient of an Alma Award for Mangas, from ITVS' Fotonovela series. In addition, he has produced, written and directed the documentary, Together Against Abuse, for the State of California. Grand Prize winner for "Best Narrative Short Film" at the Golden State Film Festival (2019) and named "Best Director Narrative Short" at the Silicon Beach Film Festival (2019), A.P.'s The Wetback (2018) has won various awards and screened at numerous international festivals, including Madrid International, San Diego Latino, San Antonio Film Festival and L.A. Shorts. Among other notable works, A.P. has directed Hurricane Party, a 2007 festival circuit success; The Silent Crisis: Diabetes Among Us, a one-hour documentary for The Discovery Channel; 22 shows of Amigos, a bilingual narrative series, broadcast nationally; and a segment on performance artist, El Vez, for a national show entitled, ColorVision. A.P. is also attached to direct two of his feature screenplays: One Last Shot, optioned by the German production company, ena Film GmbH; and Fausto's Road, based on the famous 1975 novel, The Road to Tamazunchale, by Ron Arias. He has also written for numerous production companies; his screenplays include: an adaptation of Charles Brandt's novel, The Right to Remain Silent, a psychological thriller; La Migra, about a morally-conflicted Latina border-patrol agent; and for Meridian Pictures Entertainment, a pilot for television entitled, Fifth Year. Gonzalez, now a professor emeritus, teaches writing and directing at The School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA. He has been awarded UCLA's prestigious Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003; and he was also Vice Chair and Head of Production from 2003 to 2005. A.P. Gonzalez is a member of The Directors Guild of America. He is actively involved and served 6 years as the co-chair of the DGA's Latino Committee. In October 2005, he was named among the top 100 influential Latinos in the country by Hispanic Business Magazine as well as being nominated for the 2007 Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship.