Local filmmaker Valeria Contreras has been selected to join Netflix’s fifth cohort of its Director Incubator, a highly competitive program run in partnership with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. The incubator, formerly known as the Women of Color Incubator, is designed to amplify bold, global voices in film and television and help emerging directors bring ambitious stories to life.

As part of the program, Contreras will receive a $35,000 production grant to create a short film, along with direct mentorship from Netflix and NALIP executives. The completed films will be showcased at the 2026 NALIP Media Summit, placing Contreras and her work squarely in front of industry leaders.

Her short film, Oranges, follows Lucia, a free-spirited young woman preparing to leave her border town for Mexico City in 1972. As she gets ready to go, her older sister Griselda struggles to keep everything together, until a final moment at a streetcar stop breaks the silence between them. The film is produced by Soumya Singh and deeply rooted in the emotional and cultural realities of border life.

Contreras began developing Oranges while finishing her MFA at Columbia University in 2023 and continued shaping the project back home in El Paso. She describes the film as a proof of concept for a future feature, developed through the El Paso Community Foundation Border Art Residency and the Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab.

An award-winning filmmaker, Contreras has built an impressive body of work centered on stories from the U.S.–Mexico border. Her short film Homesick screened at festivals around the world, including the Oscar-qualifying Atlanta Film Festival. She is also developing the Untitled Texas Latina Project, an anthology feature supported by organizations including the Austin Film Society, SFFilm, WarnerMedia, and The Gotham.

For El Paso, this moment is bigger than one filmmaker. It’s a reminder that stories from the border belong on the world’s biggest platforms, and that artists from this city continue to shape the future of film with clarity, care, and ambition. As big as it is, we have to remember to give Valeria her flowers, congratulations, Valeria and thank you for the work you do for the Sun City.

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