Pacho Velez makes documentary films. His most recent, The Reagan Show (co-directed with Sierra Pettengill), explores a popular actor’s defining role: Leader of the Free World. It won the David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking, and was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, and on CNN.
His prior film, Manakamana (co-directed with Stephanie Spray), won a Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. It played around the world, including at the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2017, the critic J. Hoberman included it on his list of the best films of this century.
Pacho has taught at Princeton University, Harvard University, Bard College, Parsons the New School, and MassArt. He is currently an assistant professor of screen studies at The New School, in New York City.
At MacDowell, he edited a rough draft of his new documentary, The American Sector, with co-director and Fellow Courtney Stephens, about public memorials to the Cold War, located around the United States.
