Valeria Contreras is a bilingual, Mexican-American writer, director, and producer from El Paso, Texas. She is a Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow and alumni of the Atlanta Film Festival and Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase. Her love for story began in writing and illustrating educational comics for kids. From comics to film, her work is inspired by her binational upbringing alongside the U.S.-Mexico Border, as well as the experience she gained leading policy projects on cross-border relations, immigration, and healthcare in local government.

As a creative producer, Valeria champions global, underrepresented narratives in hopes of using the power of story to advance social change. Valeria has produced a slate of short films that explore various social issues, ranging in genre from drama to comedy to horror. She has secured financing for two short films via the 3Pas Studios Production Award for Underrepresented Filmmakers and Katharina Otto-Bernstein Mentorship and Development Prize. These films highlight the narratives of Latinx communities on screen, including Not My Name, filmed in Colombia. She is currently pursuing financing in partnership with Juan Paulo Laserna for the feature film of Not My Name.

Valeria is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Columbia University, where she received her M.F.A. in Film and Creative Producing and was recognized with the Michael Hausman/Buffalo Mike Filmhaus Foundation Award.