Pedro Valiente

Award winning filmmaker and multimedia artist Pedro Valiente has made fiction and documentary films, television, video art, and theater. His work has received near sixty honors such as awards in Berlinale and an Emmy nomination. Screenings include over a hundred film festivals (Sundance, SXSW), and TV networks (PBS, BBC, TVE, Canal+). Born in Spain, Pedro has lived ten years in New York, five in Mexico City, and recently in the UK. His last work, You Are Mythical (2018), is a transmedia documentary film that tells the story of young people who connect their life with classic myths. It won awards in two film festivals in Los Angeles. Reviewing his first documentary film, New York Spin (2002), Ronnie Scheib wrote on Variety: "Part experimental tone poem, part heartfelt elegy for 9/11 and part paean to the cultural richness of Gotham, Pedro Valiente's docu focuses on six New Yorkers, each separately put in the spotlight in segments very differently conceived, shot and scored. [...] This engrossing, imagistic portrait of the city and its denizens should prove a welcome short addition to fest and arty cable lineups." New York Spin was recognized as Honoree at Independent Feature Project New York, and selected in near forty festivals in twelve countries. Carole Dean, director of Roy W. Dean Foundation, New York: "This film shows filmmaking talent". Deborah Cravey, acquisitions director at Digital Media Center, Portland: "I'm fascinated by this project: its concept, the people, the structure, everything intrigues me." Pedro started producing Cuba 15 (1997) by Elizabeth Schub, Jury Prize and Audience Award Best Short Film at Berlinale (Panorama), selected in over forty festivals, and aired on POV (PBS). He collaborated mostly as production manager/assistant director in a dozen of New York independent films including productions by Steven Soderbergh and Spike Lee; and then gathered experience on television in production (NBC, US), directing shows, and co-producing short films (Televisa, Mexico). Pedro has returned to the experimental spirit of visual theater through new media. He co-produced Forgetful (2017) short film by Tisch School of the Arts' graduates (NYU, US) receiving fifteen international awards; directed The House of My Dreams (2016) short film co-produced by Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico); and Crossing Europe (2015) documentary film aired on Canal 22 (Mexico). In visual arts, Pedro has presented twice at MoMA, and Whitney Biennial 2006 in New York; and Madrid's art centers Círculo de Bellas Artes, Casa de América, La Casa Encendida, and La Neomudéjar Museum. He's working on Multiple Portraits, a transmedia video installation trilogy: Humans in the Desert (2021, Jordan), Tarahumara Project (2014-2021, Mexico), and Penelope is Waiting (2015, Spain). In performing arts, Pedro worked as video design collaborator for The Days Before (1999) by Robert Wilson, with Isabella Rossellini, text by Umberto Eco, and music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, produced at the Lincoln Center in New York. He directed the multimedia performance Flying Fish Over Mexico (2004) at the National Center for the Arts. In his early career, he founded a university theater company including Madrid premieres (Bernard-Marie Koltès' Roberto Zucco, Sergi Belbel's Caresses), and a world premiere (Julio Cortázar's Nothing to America). He attended workshops with the Wooster Group (co-founder Willem Dafoe), minimalist choreographer Trisha Brown, and Japanese butoh master Atsushi Takenouchi. With working experience in twenty countries mostly as interdisciplinary developer, Pedro coordinated international relations at New York Film Academy, and collaborated with Vivendi Universal, and Rockefeller Foundation. In Mexico, he directed Cancun Riviera Maya International Film Festival. In Madrid, he has worked at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid as associate lecturer, communication director of Crossing Stages European Project, and co-producer for edX by MIT/Harvard University. He has contributed to develop new university programs in several countries including MA Transmedia Documentary Film at UC3M (Spain), and BA Digital Media at Plymouth College of Art (UK). PhD Audiovisual Creativity and Production, and MA Cinema Studies, Pedro is author of the book series Robert Wilson. Planetary Performing Arts (2005), and upcoming Suspended Time Space. Robert Wilson's Creative Process (2022).