EXCLUSIVE: New Film Independent President Juan Devis on His Story – and the Next Chapter
Last week we announced that media and nonprofit executive Juan Devis has named our new President, filing the role left by the passing of former President Josh Welsh in December 2024, and held until recently in an interim capacity by Board Member Brenda Robinson.
Today we’re happy to share an exclusive interview with our new President, where we talk about the state of the film industry and how he views Film Independent’s place within it, and get to know a little more about who Devis is as an artist and advocate.
Let’s start with a bit of your history. Can you tell us about your journey and what drew you to storytelling and the arts in the first place?
I grew up in Colombia in the 70s and 80s. There was always this question of what role arts and culture play in making our society a better and more democratic place. My father was an artist, and my mother was a social worker and anthropologist. There were always painters, writers, filmmakers, sociologists and economists in my house having conversations about using arts and storytelling to illuminate, create inquiry, create beauty. I saw art was about holding a mirror up to society and critiquing it in a healthy way.
My father spent his time in the studio painting, and my sister was also very talented in the visual arts. I was not. So he gave me a 35mm camera, and that’s where my journey into film, television, and media began. I also started writing for theater. Very early on, I was deeply connected to storytelling. I was an avid reader and was involved in film clubs. That’s the origin story.
Tell us about your history with Film Independent. When did you first come across the organization, and how long have you been a Member?
I had made an interactive documentary series called Departures. María Raquel Bozzi, who is the Senior Director of Education and International Programs, invited me to the Film Independent Forum to talk about the project in the late 2000s. That was my first concrete connection with Film Independent.
Since then, I’ve been following all the programing, events, and Artist Development programs. I was a Member early on, then stopped, and reconnected about four years ago. I’ve been connected to Film Independent on and off for many years, always admiring the work that has been done here for decades.
What made you want to take on the role of President of Film Independent?
Right now, we have an industry redefining itself in many different ways. There’s also the question of what the word “independent” itself means now. We have a growing creator economy that is discovering truly independent ways of distributing and financing content. We also have new technologies, different formats, and niche audiences — everything is changing.
I think there is a space for a true independent voice — not only in terms of how things are structured, but in what we’re putting out into the world, whether it’s a film, a YouTube series, or anything else. I see it as an opportunity, not to reinvent Film Independent, but to embrace these changes, and position ourselves well for the future. The opportunity, though daunting, is genuinely exciting.
At the core, it’s about continuing to give access and opportunities to independent voices, regardless of the medium, and placing ourselves in the middle of the conversation.
How do you see balancing Film Independent’s legacy while also pushing for innovation and growth?
Something very important to me is that Film Independent holds the entire life cycle of what independent film and media is all about. We’re not just a collection of programs and events. We give access to and support artists. We help build audiences for distribution. We have events and we celebrate. We will continue to be that. We just need to shift the way we see our day-to-day operations slightly — moving from a program-centered organization into a more content-led one.
Film Independent occupies a unique space within the entertainment industry. How do you see the organization’s role in that ecosystem, and what makes it a vital component?
Without independent voices, nothing in the industry is going to get refreshed. They need us as much as we need them, and I don’t think that will change. The challenge is that young independents right now are finding their own ways of doing things and they no longer need that gatekeeper or that feeder structure. We need to understand what our role is, not only for the broader industry, but for the independent voice itself. That’s the work we have ahead of us
We have a dedicated and passionate community — Members, supporters and artists who make up the Film Independent family. How do you plan to engage with them and strengthen the connection?
I’m excited about exploring Membership growth on a global level. We have incredible international programs through the Global Media Makers initiative and other development projects across the globe. We need to figure out how to grow our global Membership base, because we are already doing the work out there.
We also need to plant ourselves locally and grow our base here in LA, which continues to be the hub of the creative economy in the United States. I think there is both a hyper-local and a global approach required for Membership, and that is going to mean looking at not only our in-person programming, but digital access, so that global Members can genuinely feel part of this community. Those feel like two real growth areas for our Membership.
Let’s dive deeper so our community can get to know you better… What types of films do you love to watch? What are a few of your favorites?
Having grown up in Colombia, what are considered “foreign films” here have always been part of my film education. I love Michelangelo Antonioni. He is one of my all-time favorites. I love some of the Cuban films made right after the revolution, like Memories of Underdevelopment by director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. I love a great deal of golden-era Mexican cinema. And Italian neorealism. Those films were so formative.
On the American indie side, I love 1970s cinema. Films like The Long Goodbye and The Wild Bunch have an energy that is extraordinary. When I arrived in the United States in 1989, there was such incredible energy around independent film. Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing were, for me, truly radical, beautiful examples of American independent cinema.
More recently, I love Sirāt and many of the international films that have come out in the last couple of years. The independent spirit is very much alive in other parts of the world right now.
And on a completely different note, I also find myself curious about what is happening in micro dramas — for entirely different reasons.
The challenge is that structurally, they’re built for the algorithm. It’s quite something to watch them from beginning to end without stopping. But there is also some genuinely exciting immersive storytelling happening right now. The work Alejandro Iñárritu did with his immersive exhibition at LACMA is a great example. The independent voice is very much alive, and it crosses formats and genres.
What do you think translates most directly from your professional background into this role, and what will be genuinely new territory for you?
I started as a writer-director. And when I ran the content and production arm of KCET here in Los Angeles, I was working as a producer, showrunner, and creator. So I bring the experience of what it means to be an independent creator.
I also bring the experience of having to build frameworks and systems for content to actually be produced and distributed. I had to build teams, bring in resources, and build operations.
And I have a deeply rooted connection to community. The more you have a sense of belonging to a place and to people, the more you understand where you are and where you came from, and the happier you’re going to be. That community-rooted understanding is something I’ll bring to this role.
What I’m most excited about is being part of the conversation around what the independent voice means and what it will produce twenty years from now. Can we be the fertile ground where that conversation happens? Can we give access, production opportunities, and celebrate new voices in this new media landscape that lies ahead of us?
You mentioned your vision of Film Independent becoming a great Los Angeles institution — on the level of the LA Philharmonic or LACMA. How do you see Film Independent interacting with the world of LA arts and culture?
Film and television are such an important presence in the cultural life of this city, and yet there has been no cultural institution quite like Film Independent to fully represent them. Film and TV have somehow been set apart — placed in one category while the Philharmonic, LACMA, MOCA, and other cultural institutions carry the banner of “culture.”
But now there is a growing understanding that film and television are essential to the cultural life of LA. We generate jobs, those jobs create purchasing power. The people who work in film and television are the same people who go to concerts and museums. There has been a genuine shift in how people understand the role that film and television play. And I don’t think there is any other organization in LA that can tell the story of what independent film, television, and media mean to this city the way we can.
We need to tell our story more broadly, see ourselves as content creators and curators, and position ourselves as an organization that is actively helping the economy and culture thrive in LA. That’s how we become that kind of institution.
It sounds like lots of exciting work ahead. Thank you for giving us, and our Members, the opportunity to get to know you as we begin this new chapter together.
Thank you.
For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision.
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