Juan Avella is an LA-based writer-director-producer originally from Caracas, Venezuela, who focuses on gritty, social crime stories set in multicultural worlds. He holds a Screenwriting MFA from the AFI Conservatory, where he won the Fadiman Award for excellence in screenwriting for his crime feature Bolichicos. Juan has also written and produced shows and promos for E! Entertainment Latam and the Discovery Channel US. For almost 2 years, he taught screenwriting to 5th graders as a volunteer for the Young Storytellers program, and in 2016, he was a Film Independent Project Involve fellow. In 2017, his short Hijo Por Hijo played in 40 festivals, including NALIP’s Latino Media Fest, the short as well accumulated 5 awards, and had a 5-week theatrical run in Venezuela, where it played nationwide before feature films in over 170 theaters. At the end of its festival run, the short was acquired by HBO for distribution and will premiered on their platforms in May 2018. Most recently, Juan had released two short films “Her Body” (2018) and “Hit It and Quit It” (2019). He is currently in pre-production with “Bolichicos”.

Learn more about Juan and his project here!