Pacho Velez is a nonfiction filmmaker born and raised in NYC. His last feature, They’re Here (2024, co-directed with Dan Claridge) looks at UFO experiencers and the desire for transcendence in Upstate New York. It premiered at Tribeca before going on to play many festivals including Cucalorus (Wilmington, NC) and SXSW Australia (Sydney).
His penultimate film, Searchers (2021), is a portrait of The Big Apple as seen through the eyes of lovers navigating the internet in search of intimacy. The film premiered at Sundance before going on to play at many festivals around the world. Pacho also directed The American Sector (2020, co-directed with Courtney Stephens), which premiered at the Berlinale. The New Yorker critic Richard Brody included on his list of the best films of 2021.
Pacho’s earlier features include The Reagan Show (Tribeca 2017, co-directed with Sierra Pettengill) and Manakamana (2013, co-directed with Stephanie Spray). They have played around the world, including at the New York Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sydney International Film Festival. Manakamana won a Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present competition at the Locarno International Film Festival (2013).
Pacho also produced the features Realm of Satan (Sundance 2024, directed by Scott Cummings) and Some Kind of Heaven (Sundance 2020, directed by Lance Oppenheim). He received his MFA in film production from Calarts. At present, he is an assistant professor of screen studies at The New School (NYC).