Jesse Vela Email & Phone Number

I’m a Latine filmmaker, screenwriter, and multi-media artist from Los Angeles, California (Glassell Park); a first-generation graduate from Northwestern University; and a first-year graduate student at California Institute of the Arts. Learned in programs like RunwayAI, Unreal Engine, Unity, Adobe Creative Suite, DaVinci Resolve, and Blender; I am an idealist and futurist. My storytelling and production skills span from music videos and short narrative films to experimental documentaries which have been selected in festivals from the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) to the Defy Film Festival. I have had the opportunity to employ different technologies and distinctive techniques throughout my work to more effectively communicate my message and construct a defiant, unique aesthetic guided by feeling and theory. I am also heavily experienced in research (e.g. Undergraduate Research Assistant Program, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, Northwestern Summer Research Opportunity Program 2022). I research the effects of affect-based practices for marginalized communities in the navigation of group dynamics but also self-concept and identity development, while also highlighting more concrete and systemic issues such as institutional discrimination.I have also interned at the Chicago Bar Foundation as a part of the legal advocacy efforts to guide those underrepresented through the legal system, also working on the assembly of pamphlets and other materials as a means of emphasizing progress made.

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  Intern

  The Chicago Bar Foundation

  Jan 2022 - Mar 2022 - Chicago, Illinois, United States

  Assembled legal aids highlighting a range of various associated organizations to demonstrate progress in making the justice system more accessible, fair, equitable, and effective for marginalized individuals. Authored proposals in addressing obstructive justice issues such as text message notifications pertaining to the courts being available in a multitude of languages.