Member Profile

Paul Espinosa is an award-winning filmmaker who has worked at the intersection of social justice and Latino history for over 40 years. He is a California-based, New Mexican-raised filmmaker who uses the power of media to recover stories about unsung heroes whose lives inspire us. Before founding Espinosa Productions in 1996, Paul served as Senior Producer and Executive Producer with PBS stations KPBS-San Diego and KERA-Dallas. His work has been supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Humanities, PBS, the Ford Foundation, ITVS, Latino Public Broadcasting, the U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Paul’s films capture the transformative energy of the men and women of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands examining topics like: key events in the contentious history between Mexico and the U.S. (“The Lemon Grove Incident”, “The U.S.-Mexican War: 1846-1848”, “The Hunt for Pancho Villa” and “Los Mineros” –the latter two for the American Experience); the productive intersection of art, music and civil rights (“Singing Our Way to Freedom”, “Ballad of an Unsung Hero” and “1492 Revisited”); and the struggles of both documented and undocumented Mexican immigrant families (“In the Shadow of the Law,” “Uneasy Neighbors” and “…and the earth did not swallow him” for American Playhouse).

Espinosa holds a BA from Brown University and a PhD from Stanford University where he explored connections between media and anthropology. He is Professor Emeritus and a founding faculty member in the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University and is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities around the country. His films have been screened at festivals around the world and have won many awards including eight Emmys. 

Espinosa has shared his expertise, experience and social activism at many universities and community centers across the Americas. He has been honored with Paul Espinosa Film Festivals in Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, and San Diego. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists inducted him into the NAHJ Hall of Fame and the California Chicano News Media Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

He received the Outstanding Latino Cultural Award in Performing Arts from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education; the Domingo Ulloa Cultural Worker Award from California Rural Legal Assistance in recognition of his contributions to public understanding of the experiences of Mexican origin peoples in the United States; and he was honored with the Hispanic Heritage Month Resolution presented on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC.

Espinosa is a Board Member and Founding President of the Media Arts Center of San Diego which has overseen the San Diego Latino Film Festival for the last 31 years.  He previously served on the Boards of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) National Board, the Arizona Latino Arts & Culture Consortium, the California Council for the Humanities, the Arizona Humanities Council and the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers National Board (as Treasurer).

Mission Statement

Espinosa Productions uses the power of media to tell stories about unsung heroes whose lives inspire us. Our films capture the transformative energy of the men and women of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, both past and present, and reflect a deep commitment to this community’s culture, history, identity and struggle. In the telling of these meaningful stories, we seek to expand understanding, provoke dialogue and honor emotions that link the experiences of these individuals to the larger human tapestry of our times.

Paul’s films capture the transformative energy of the men and women of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands examining topics like: key events in the contentious history between Mexico and the U.S. (“The Lemon Grove Incident”, “The U.S.-Mexican War: 1846-1848”, “The Hunt for Pancho Villa” and “Los Mineros” -the latter two for the American Experience); the productive intersection of art, music and civil rights (“Singing Our Way to Freedom”, “Ballad of an Unsung Hero” and “1492 Revisited”); and the struggles of both documented and undocumented Mexican immigrant families ( “In the Shadow of the Law” and “Uneasy Neighbors” (“…and the earth did not swallow him” for American Playhouse).

Paul’s films capture the transformative energy of the men and women of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands examining topics like: key events in the contentious history between Mexico and the U.S. (“The Lemon Grove Incident”, “The U.S.-Mexican War: 1846-1848”, “The Hunt for Pancho Villa” and “Los Mineros” -the latter two for the American Experience); the productive intersection of art, music and civil rights (“Singing Our Way to Freedom”, “Ballad of an Unsung Hero” and “1492 Revisited”); and the struggles of both documented and undocumented Mexican immigrant families ( “In the Shadow of the Law” and “Uneasy Neighbors” (“…and the earth did not swallow him” for American Playhouse).