Cristina Kotz Cornejo
Cristina is a storyteller, media maker and media arts educator, recognized by VARIETY as 2021 Educator of the Year.
Born in Michigan but raised on the West Coast of the United States and in Buenos Aires, Argentina in a bilingual, bicultural family, Cristina Kotz Cornejo is also a descendant of the Indigenous Huarpe people of the Cuyo region of Argentina. She has an M.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, an M.A. in Organizational Arts Management from Antioch University, and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California. Cristina's debut feature film, 3 Américas, received DVD distribution, streamed on Netflix and was represented by Cinetic Media’s, Film Buff. Her short fiction films have screened at festivals around the world and her documentary short film, Jewel and The Catch, was selected by Outfest to be part of UCLA's Film and TV Archive. Excerpts can be seen in the opening credit sequence of season 3 of Amazon’s series Transparent and in the documentary, Commitment to Life.
Cristina’s immersive 360º film, the root is more important than the flower has shown at festivals/venues in the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and the US. Cristina has received support from Film Independent, the MacDowell Colony, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cine Qua Non Lab, the LEF Foundation, and Online News Association.
Cristina is also a contributing author in Filming Difference: Actors, Directors, Producers and Writers on Gender, Race and Sexuality in Film, University of Texas Press (edited by Daniel Bernardi); May 2009. She’s a Professor in the Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College.
