Pro
Marcos Nieves
Biography
Marcos Nieves is a queer and Mexican director. He started working in documentaries and he has now expanded to branded content, digital and TV commercials, music videos, and more.
He began his work as an immigrant rights activist and social justice filmmaker. Over the years, he has worked in documentaries centered on immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, healthcare access, HIV education, educational justice, economic inequality, wage theft, mass incarceration, police brutality, and other social justice issues. Through his work, he portrays stories of immigrants whose resilience to thrive against adversity illustrates how new immigrants have shaped ideas of democracy and; fought for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Although he is a DACA recipient, he still an undocumented Mexican immigrant facing social and systemic discrimination. These experiences have challenged him, but also have enriched his approach to filmmaking. His lived experiences allow him to portray genuinely complex migrant stories that are beyond one-dimensional archetypes sensationalized by Hollywood narratives.
He is also a member of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective. With the support of Firelight Media, they made history by becoming the first-ever undocumented filmmaker panel at Sundance 2020. Alongside other members, Marcos had the opportunity to speak about the history of cinema created by undocumented filmmakers, but also, start a dialogue to transform a system that, for many years, has excluded them out of grants, fellowships, funding, jobs, and other opportunities. He is part of the first wave of undocumented filmmakers, and because of this, he is committed not only to the art, and to the subject, but also to mentoring and developing rising artists.