David Alvarado
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez
David Alvarado is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work brings to life the stories of trailblazers in science, the arts, and human rights. After beginning his career as a high school dropout interning at PBS affiliate KERA, he co-founded Structure Films and has directed, produced, and photographed acclaimed documentaries including The Immortalists, Bill Nye: Science Guy, Blood Sugar Rising, and We Are As Gods. His work also includes documentaries for PBS's NOVA and the Independent Lens series Matter of Mind. A Stanford Documentary Film MFA graduate and Sundance Producers Workshop fellow, Alvarado is a longtime NALIP member whose passion for thoughtful documentary storytelling traces back to an encounter with filmmaker Luis Valdez nearly two decades ago—an experience that ultimately inspired this film.