Brenda Avila-Hanna Equity & Representation Team Lead, New Day Films

Brenda Avila-Hanna is an award-winning filmmaker, video journalist, and educator. Born and raised in Mexico City, her films mostly focus on transnational narratives between Latin America and the United States. Her work has been showcased at HotDocs, Lakino Berlin, Frameline, Fusion Network and Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, among many others. Brenda has been a Fellow at BAVC’s National MediaMaker, the National Minority Consortia Lab through LPB, the NALIP Media Market and DocsMX. She is also a member-owner of New Day Films, an independent filmmaker collective bringing social justice films to educators. She currently serves in the collective’s Steering Committee as the team lead for Equity & Representation. Brenda is also a programmer for the Watsonville Film Festival and a Mentor for the Latino Film Institute’s Youth Cinema Project. Brenda received a Master’s degree in Social Documentation from UC Santa Cruz, where she has also taught courses on the intersection of filmmaking, education, and social change.