Ray Santisteban

Independent filmmaker Ray Santisteban has worked for the past 30 years as a documentary filmmaker. His work consistently gravitates toward political subjects and artist profiles, addressing the themes of justice, memory and political transformation. A graduate of NYU’s film and TV production program, he has explored a variety of subjects including New York Black Panther leader Dhoruba Bin Wahad – PASSIN’ IT ON, (Co-Producer), Chicano poetry, VOICES FROM TEXAS (Director, Producer) and was Senior Producer of VISIONES: LATINO ART AND CULTURE IN THE U.S. a three hour PBS series nationally broadcast in Oct. 2004. In January 2020, his one-hour documentary, THE FIRST RAINBOW COALITION, which showcases a little known multi-ethic alliance in 1960’s Chicago, was broadcast nationally on the PBS series Independent Lens. In December 2020, Santisteban’s short film “The Beginning is near” the Art of Vincent Valdez premiered on the new web series “in the Making” on the American Masters webpage. Awards garnered include: a 1992 Student Academy Award (information division), a New York Foundation for the Arts Media Fellowship, 1993, 1996 “Ideas In Action” Award from the National Tele-Media Alliance, 1996 “Faculty of the Year” Award from the Chicano Studies Program, UW Madison, 2005 Rockefeller Film and Video Fellowship, 2008 and 2016 San Antonio Artists Foundation Filmmaker Award, and a 2016 Tobin Award for Artistic Excellence. Since 1998, he has been based in San Antonio, Texas.