Backside

Backside intimately explores the daily life and expertise of the migrant workers behind the Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race in the world.

Status

Production

About the Filmmakers

Director

Raúl Paz Pastrana

Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana is a Mexican immigrant filmmaker and cinematographer based in Denver, Colorado. His work intersects contemporary art, political documentary, and visual ethnography to explore themes of belonging, alienation, and the concept of “home.” His films have screened at festivals worldwide including at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, AFI Docs Film Festival, The New Orleans Film Festival, AMBULANTE Gira de Documentales and at the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) in Mexico. Raúl has been supported by the Princess Grace Awards, Jerome Foundation, Camargo Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, IFP/The Gotham, BAVC, Firelight Media, New America, Ford Foundation, JustFilms grantee, Sundance, and Colorado Humanities.

Producer

Gabriella Garcia-Pardo

Gabriella is a Colombian-American documentary producer and cinematographer based in Washington, DC. Drawn to stories of home, migration, climate justice, and conservation, she is a 2020 Sundance Creative Producing Lab Fellow and an Impact Partners Producing Fellow. Gabriella has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Catapult Films, ITVS, IWMF, BAVC, and the NOFS, among others. She collaborates with both independent productions and legacy media organizations. Previously, Gabriella produced short-form documentaries on staff at National Geographic as a one-woman-band, filmed over 150 musicians on NPR’s music team, designed an intensive summer film program for high school students at Yale, and led horse treks through Chile. Gabriella is a graduate of SCAD and is the founder and director of the DC chapter of the Video Consortium where she leads a mentorship program for emerging creators and monthly events for filmmakers and journalists.

Producer

Patricia Alvarez Astacio

Patricia is a Puerto Rican anthropologist and filmmaker whose scholarly research and creative practice develops in the folds between ethnography, critical theory, and the documentary arts. Her more recent works converge on issues of political economy, gender and indigenous representations in Latin America. She has been a documentary programmer for various film festivals and screenings in Latin America and the US, and was the director of the Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department and faculty for the Latin American and Latino Studies Program and the Film, TV and Interactive Media Programs at Brandeis University.