Juan Martinez Vera

Juan was born in the rural town of Tacubaya in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. When Juan reached the age of eleven he moved to the U.S. with his family to pursue a college education. In the U.S., movies became his main source of entertainment and also a tool he could use to understand and connect with the American society. In 2010 Juan graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Film Television and Digital Media. While at UCLA, Juan directed, wrote, and produced over 35 projects that ranged from soap operas to the college's award winning News show. Immediately after graduating from UCLA, Juan enrolled at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. In May 2014, Juan had the honor to be one of three directors selected to direct an advanced film project for the school. On his last year at USC, Juan received the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant to write and direct his most recent project, SPARK. This film went on to receive a US Student BAFTA Award nomination in 2016, a DGA Award for Best Latino Student Director and a distribution deal with HBO. Most recently, Juan was selected to develop the Latinovela television project for Univision, Televisa, and NALIP. Juan's goal as a filmmaker is to inspire people to use their imagination to transform their reality.