James C. Velasquez

James C. Velasquez is a film director, producer, and editor based out of Los Angeles, California. He is enrolled in the MFA in Filmmaking program at the New York Film Academy - Los Angeles campus. During his studies, James writes, produces, and directs student short film projects including a US military drama, Turning The Tide, and a family comedy, Karaoke Birthday. He recently completed post-production for his first indie student short film, Too Late To Sing? In October 2020, James launched a podcast & online talk show known as How WE Bounce Back with the purpose of driving open, relatable, and meaningful conversations on life's difficult times. From 2016-2021, James worked full-time in the advertising industry as a digital marketer. He currently works part-time as a Senior SEM Manager at Merkle (Dentsu) and previously serviced the FOX TV & FOX Sports accounts. Other notable clients during his full-time duties included Lexus, The Cheesecake Factory, World Market, and Audi Silvercar. From 2013-2016, James also served as an instrumental role at Brand USA within the Global Marketing & Operations departments. James has a passion to drive raw emotion with his stories through drama and comedy. He is an energetic filmmaker and enjoys bringing excitement to his cast and crew. As a first-generation Filipino-American, James has a great desire to showcase stories of AAPI and people of color. Through the visual art of filmmaking, he hopes to capture the hearts of audiences, no matter how small or big, and bridge together cross-cultural differences in the community.