Pacho Velez, Lewis Center for the Arts

2015-17 Princeton Arts Fellow

About

Pacho Velez works at the intersection of ethnography, contemporary art, and political documentary. His current project, The Reagan Show, explores a prolific actor’s defining role: Leader of the Free World. Told entirely through a largely-unseen trove of archival footage, the film captures the pageantry, pathos, and charisma that followed the 40th President from Hollywood to the nation’s capital.

His last film, Manakamana (co-directed with Stephanie Spray) won a Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. It played around the world, including at the Whitney Biennial and the Toronto International Film Festival. His earlier film and theater work have been presented at venues such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, and on Japanese National Television.

In 2010, Pacho completed his MFA at CalArts. He now lives in New York City, where he teaches filmmaking at Bard College and the Massachusetts College of Art.