Biography
Valerie Castillo Martinez is a Filipina American filmmaker who founded her company, IndieFlip, to make films that deal with underrepresented subjects, cross-cultural themes, and flipping the usual narratives.
Her emphasis on innovative storytelling, creative collaboration, and international co-productions has led to some of her films’ successes. Her short films have played in film festivals such as Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Busan, and SXSW and have won numerous awards worldwide.
Her first feature film as writer and producer, Death of Nintendo, world premiered in Berlinale Generation in 2020. It won a Special Jury Award in Screenwriting at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and a Young Critics Circle (YCC) Award for Best Film in the Philippines.
Valerie is a Film Independent Fellow, a Sundance Fellow, a Berlinale Talent, and a Rotterdam Producers Lab participant. She is also a screenwriting professor at the University of Southern California (USC) and Columbia University in New York City. She has an M.B.A. from Wilmington University, an M.F.A. in Film from Columbia University, and is a United States Air Force veteran.