Lázaro J. González

Lázaro J. González is an award-winning independent filmmaker, curator, and educator. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Film & Media at the University of California, Berkeley, where his academic research and creative practice intersect in the curation and creation of counterarchives of sexual exile (sexile). His work focuses closely on queer cinema, non-fiction storytelling, diaspora, post-memory, and Latin American and Caribbean cultural production.

His doctoral dissertation theorizes pájaro cinema as a Caribbean counterarchival cinematic praxis across Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and broader sexilic and diasporic registers. A portion of this research has been published as "Memoirs of Sexile: Mariel Boatlift and the Cuban Queer Archives" in Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal (2021), as well as a book chapter in Shooting Back: Documentary Film in Latin America and the Caribbean (University Press of Mississippi, 2026), and the film magazine Fantasma Materia (Material Ghost)l. At UC Berkeley, he has designed and taught specialized undergraduate courses that bridge film production with media theory.

As a filmmaker with over a decade of experience , his cinematic works—including Parole (2024), Sexilio (in post-production), Villa Rosa (2016), and Máscaras (2014) —have screened internationally at major festivals and institutions in Havana, Barcelona, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Paris. His film Parole was awarded Best Short Film at the Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale (2025) , where Villa Rosa also won Best Documentary (2018), alongside an Audience Award at the Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (2017). His documentary Máscaras is distributed by Icarus Films across North American universities.

Beyond production, González is a dedicated curator aiming to uplift independent and stateless cinema. He has organized film series for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) and has been invited as a guest speaker to institutions including Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, UCLA, Edinburgh, and Concordia University. He is a co-founder of Encuadre, Cuba’s independent audiovisual production network, and an alumnus of both the Sundance Institute Documentary Workshop and the International School of Film and Television (EICTV) in San Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba.

Teaching Experience

Acting Instructor & Teaching Assistant | UC Berkeley (2020–2025)
Designed and taught undergraduate courses in film production and film studies, developing original curricula on Latin American cinemas, documentary representation, and Caribbean counter-archives. Served as sole instructor of record for:

• Film R1B:Sexile and Counterarchives of the Caribbean (Fall 2025)

• Film R1B:The Avowal of Difference in Latin American Cinemas (Spring 2026)

• Film 185:Intermediate Moving Image Production

• Film 85:Introduction to Moving Image Production

Selected Filmography

• Sexilio (Feature Documentary, 70 min – Work in Progress)

• Selected for the Sundance Institute Documentary Workshop (Miami) and screened at several academic institutions (Harvard, Yale, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Northwestern, Concordia)

• Out in the Vortex (Documentary – In Production)

• Parole (Short Documentary, 25 min, 2024)

• Best Short Film at Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale (2025); official selection in over 20 international festivals including Havana Film Festival and SF Latino Film Festival.

• Parole (Official Trailer)

• Pāndèmos (Short Film, 2021)

• Villa Rosa (Documentary-Fiction Hybrid, 50 min, 2016)

• Audience Award at Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (2017); Best Documentary at Yale LIFF (2018).

• Máscaras / Masks (Documentary, 35 min, 2014)

• Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Icarus Films. Winner of the National Cultural Journalism Award 'Rubén Martínez Villena' (Cuba, 2015).

• Tatá (Short Film, 2014)

• Del fango a la Fé (Short Film, 2013)

Selected Publications

• Book Chapter: González, L. J. (2026). Contributor in C. L. Ballengee (Ed.), Shooting Back: Documentary Film in Latin America and the Caribbean (1st ed.). University Press of Mississippi.

• Journal Article: González, L. J. (2021). "Memoirs of Sexile: Mariel Boatlift and the Cuban Queer Archives: Documentary-in-progress and artist statement." Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal, 17(2), 11.

• Essays & Criticism: González, Lázaro J. (2024). “Towards a Cuban Cinema without Borders.” No Country Magazine, October 28, 2024.

• Note: Over a decade of freelance film criticism and multimedia journalism published across specialized outlets such as Enfoco, Bisiesto, Cine Cubano, and El Toque.

Curatorial Projects & Professional Leadership

• Co-Curator, Archipiélago Fílmico: Cuerpos Proscritos film series, Mexico City (2025).

• Curator, Cuban Cinema Without Borders showcase series, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) (2024).

• Curator, The Short Documentary Films of Sara Gómez 

• Co-Curator, Cine Latino film series, Center for Latin American Studies, UC Berkeley (2022).

• Co-Founder & Executive Producer, Encuadre, Cuban Audiovisual Production Network (2017–2018).

• Founder, Confluencias del Lente (Confluences of the Lens) educational and exhibition space for young filmmakers (2015–2017).

• Official Jury, Latino and Iberian Film Festival, Yale University (2019).

Fellowships, Grants & Residencies

• Artist-in-Residence, Casa Ojalá, Mexico City (2025)

• Artist-in-Residence, Queen’s University Vulnerable Media Lab, Ontario, Canada (2023)

• Grants & Fellowships: Tinker Research Field Grant (2024)

• Berkeley Film and Media Research Travel Grant (2022)

• Chancellor Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley

• El Instituto Pre-doctoral Award, University of Connecticut (2019–2020)

• Crandall Fellowship, Graduate School, University of Connecticut

• Sparring Partners Fund (Italy) & Norwegian Fund for Cuban Cinema

Education

• Ph.D. Candidate, Film and Media Studies | University of California, Berkeley (Expected Spring 2026)

• M.A., Film and Media Studies | University of California, Berkeley

• M.A., Literatures, Cultures, and Languages | University of Connecticut (2020)

• Certificate in Documentary Cinema and Screenwriting | International School of Film and Television (EICTV), Cuba (2016)

• B.A., Journalism | School of Communications, University of Havana (2014)

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