Filmmaker Bio - Cruz Angeles
Cruz Angeles was born in Mexico City and raised in South Central Los Angeles. He began acting with members of Teatro Campesino while studying at U.C. Berkeley. Cruz moved from actor to director and founded his own theater troupe, ¡Teatro Manos Arriba!, where he wrote, directed and produced his own plays. He later directed “Deep,” a documentary on youth criminalization, which had great success in the festival circuit and was broadcasted nationally by Free Speech TV. Cruz received the 2001 DGA Award Winner for Best Latino Student Filmmaker.

He is currently working on his MFA at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. At NYU he has directed three short films: “Cardboard Hands,” “Behind Ropes,” and “Abuela’s Revolt,”

“Abuela’s Revolt” is his first narrative short film to hit the festival circuit and has already received recognition. It won Second Place at the Voladero International Film Festival in Monterey, Mexico. It was a Wasserman Semi-Finalist for NYU’s First Run Film Festival and received an Honorable Mention at the Making Waves Student Film Festival. The film has traveled to more than twenty-five film festivals, including its world premiere screening at South By SouthWest 2001, Raindance in London, Flickapalooza Film Festival, Chicago International Latino Film Festival, Method Fest, and Festival de Cine Huesca in Spain. Abuela’s Revolt has also been written up in the Austin Chronicle and filmcritic.com. . Recently, it was broadcast on PBS as part of REELNY