Erika Valenciana is a Chicana filmmaker based in Chicago. Her short films have received top placing awards and have been screened at various festivals, including the Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner. She was 2015 Kartemquin Films’ Diverse Voices in Docs fellow and selected for Full Spectrum Features’ 2020 The Chicago Cinema Exchange: Mexico City. Valenciana received a 2019 Kartemquin Films’ Emerging Storyteller grant and was a finalist at Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019 If/Then Shorts program. She was the 2019 Diverse Voices Fellow at the Stowe Story Labs’ Fall Narrative Lab and a 2020 Development Grant Recipient. 

Valenciana amplifies the voices of her community of women and non-binary filmmakers of color through Mezcla Media Collective’s Leadership Circle. She uses film to share underrepresented stories and build towards a media landscape where diverse experiences are visible, as well as celebrated.