Maritza Alvarez

Queer Xicana -  Indigenous writer/filmmaker.  They began as a grassroots guerilla filmmaker in the streets of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.  Later Film Independent-Los Angeles awarded them the Kodak Barbara Boyle Film School scholarship to attend the Los Angeles Film School, following her undergraduate degree at U.C. San Diego. Maritza began working with SPI in 2009. Since then, they have continued to work with the Xicana and Indigenous communities for over 20 years throughout Turtle Island, Abya Yala, and beyond colonial borders helping to video document Indigenous gatherings and stories related to land, water, and identity. In  2005 they wrote, shot, and produced a short that screened at the renowned Sundance Film Festival. In 2010 they founded 13 Visions, an independent film production space committed to disrupting and reframing BIPOC storytelling.