ABOUT DAWN
Dawn D Valadez is a second-generation Xicana, disabled, queer filmmaker dedicated to telling powerful stories at the intersections of race, class, gender, disability, and youth empowerment. With a foundation in social work and community activism, she brings a deeply human-centered approach to documentary filmmaking—one that prioritizes collaboration, healing, and justice.
Dawn is co-directing Querida Fátima with Colectiva Varinia - Lorena Gutiérrez, Jesús “Chucho” Quintana, Rodrigo Reyes, Ike Rofe, and Su Kim. The story follows a mother’s courageous pursuit of justice after the femicide of her 12-year-old daughter in Mexico. The project addresses gender-based violence, state impunity, and the resilience of women organizing for justice. The project won the Audience Award, Best Director, and Best Picture at the 2026 Guadalajara International Film Festival, the 2025 Guadalajara Film Festival Work In Progress lab for sound, VFX, and impact campaign, and the 2024 DocLands Jury Pitch
In The Pushouts (2018), co-directed with Katie Galloway, the project highlights the story of Dr. Victor Rios, a former gang member and high school dropout turned academic and mentor, examining how marginalized youth of color are criminalized. The film aired on VOCES and was awarded Best Documentary by the Imagen Foundation.
Her debut feature documentary, Going on 13 (2008), co-directed with Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, follows four girls of color as they navigate adolescence and identity. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and received multiple awards.
She is a producer on Vivien’s Wild Ride (Hilgrove, 2025), a co-producer on Hummingbirds (Castaños & Contreras, 2023), and a consulting producer on Manzinar, Diverted (Kaneko, 2021) among many other films. Her work has been supported by Ford Foundation/Just Films, Sundance, Berkeley Film Foundation, Tribeca All Access, the Jonathan Logan Foundation, California Humanities, Chicken and Egg, and others.
Dawn’s media work focuses on race, class, education and coming of age in the 21st Century U.S. Her work is supported by the Ford Foundation/Just Films, Sundance Documentary Fund, Tribeca All Access, the California Humanities Council, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), ITVS, Latino Public Broadcasting, the San Francisco Foundation, Fledgling Fund, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Catapult Fund, and others. She’s been awarded numerous awards and honors, including, most recently, the Al Bendich Berkeley Film Foundation Award (2017), a Chicago Media Project Impact Prize (2018) and the Imagen Awards' Best Documentary Award (2018). Formerly on the board of the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), Dawn advises on documentary films and public engagement campaigns and acts as a review panelist for a range of public documentary and other media funders.
Dawn is a recipient of the See It, Be It Filmmaker Fellowship from the Geena Davis Bentonville Film Foundation. Past residencies and fellowship programs she has received include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Producer's Academy, the Sundance Lab / Skoll Foundation's Stories of Change Initiative, the BAVC Media Makers Fellowship, NALIP's Latino Producers Academy and Media Market and the Women of Color Filmmakers' Artist Residency Center.
A proud graduate of UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, Dawn has over 25 years of experience as a social worker and non-profit service & development professional. Her boutique consulting business supports the fundraising efforts of non-profit organizations. She has a strong track record in developing fundraising plans, cultivating donors and sponsors, researching grants and securing foundation funds, and winning successful contracts with government entities—for capital, programmatic, & operational campaigns. Dawn is a bold advocate for underserved populations, especially children and youth, students, low-income people, LGBTQIA+ communities, and people of color. She has raised over $50 million in government grants, private foundations, and donor funds.
Beyond her filmmaking, Valadez brings decades of experience in nonprofit leadership and social justice work. She is a co-founder of the Bay Area Youth Agency Consortium (BAYAC) AmeriCorps Program and has collaboratively led community storytelling projects in the US and around the world. She is an alumnus of the American Film Showcase.
She currently serves as the Director of Workforce and Artist Development at BAVC Media, where she supports emerging artists and young media makers in film and digital storytelling. Valadez also serves on the boards of the Disability Media Alliance, which advocates for disability representation and accessibility in media globally, and the Berkeley Film Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers in the Bay Area.
Her work is driven by the belief that film can be both intimate and political—and that storytelling is a vital force for healing, resistance, and systemic change.
She lives on the unceded land of the xučyun (Huichin) Ohlone Land/Oakland, California, with her 17-lb Chiweenie, Chuy.