Dennis Avelar

Dennis Avelar was raised in the Chicago suburb of Stone Park, Illinois, where at a young age he developed a passion for telling stories. As the youngest of three boys, his mother, Amada Avelar (Rodriguez) encouraged him to pursue a career in performing arts, while his father, Edwin A. Avelar, instilled upon him a tireless work ethic. His parents immigrated to the United States from Guatemala, and despite the distance from their homeland they made every possible effort to establish a strong Latino foundation, which they felt would be of great benefit in their son's future education. Dennis's storytelling began around the age of 10, where he would write stories inspired by surroundings or world events. His first circulated work was a short narrative he wrote about the adventures he shared with his older brother, who gave him sufficient source material for endless stories. He graduated as a member of the National Honor Society from Proviso West High School in Hillside, Illinois, where he discovered his love for performing on stage and was granted the opportunity to direct the short play "A Case For Two Spies". Wanting to further his studies while learning new skills, Dennis enrolled at Columbia College Chicago where he graduated with honors with a BA in Film and Video. In 2010, Dennis officially launched Avelar FilmWorks, and began working as a wedding videographer to raise funds to purchase equipment and to produce scripted projects. In 2012 he produced, wrote and directed Paper Cut, which marked his debut as an independent producer. Having years of training in an industry not too familiar with the world of cinema, Dennis developed a story around his experience as a wedding videographer and began production on the series The Videographer in 2013. As of December of 2014, he is developing future episodes of The Videographer as well as in pre-production for his debut feature-length production.