Chelsea Hernandez

At the heart of Chelsea Hernandez’s storytelling are themes of community, representation and social justice. Named as one of Texas Monthly’s “Texas filmmakers poised to usher in a new Golden Age of Texas cinema” and DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” class of 2021, Chelsea has directed and produced award-winning feature and short documentaries and produced television docuseries for El Rey Network, Paramount+ and PBS.

She is a National Emmy-nominated Director for her first feature documentary BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM (SXSW, PBS), Winner of the 2021 Silver Telly Award for Social Impact, an 8-time Lone Star Emmy Winning Director, Producer and Editor, an SFFilm Rainin Grant Recipient, Warner Media 150 Artist, Winner of the David Carr Award for Truth in Nonfiction Filmmaking, and a fellow of Firelight Media Doc Lab, Tribeca All Access, BAVC National Mediamaker, Gotham Week and NALIP Latino Media Market.

Chelsea’s second feature documentary BREAKING THE NEWS, a co-production of ITVS will premiere and stream on Independent Lens/PBS in 2024 beginning February 19th. She is currently in production on her third feature documentary which is Executive Produced by Stacey Abrams and also in production on a short documentary about a school for children asylum seekers in Matamoros, Mexico. As much as documentaries are dear to Chelsea’s heart, she is crossing over to fiction, developing several short stories and a feature anthology film with 4 Texas Latina directors. Chelsea is also a founding member of Tejanas in Film, a collective that aims to support and uplift Latina and Latinx filmmakers living and working in Texas.