Pedro Peira
Pedro Peira, PhD, is a Fulbright scholar and Spanish filmmaker. He has produced the feature documentaries “Free Way” (2020), which world-premiered at San Sebastian Film Festival, and “Soul” (2017) which was released at Berlin Film Festival and was distributed in North America and Japan, where it was released at 16 theaters. His first feature documentary as a director was “Música Maestros” (2014), a movie on the positive effects of music on people. In 2016, he completed a Ph.D. in film studies at Complutense University in Madrid, with the thesis “Spanish-Portuguese Film Co-Productions (1943-1949),” and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study documentary at the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles branch. While in California, he directed five short documentaries focused on the Latino population in the U.S.: “(Latin) American Dream,” “Veterana,” “Trabajadores,” “Center Cut” and “Españomics,” that screened and won awards at some festivals, and which enabled him to return to Spain and consolidate his career as a director. Pedro was Director of Sales for BocaBoca Producciones from 2005 to 2009 and Advisory Member of the Committee of Promotion of the Spanish Film Institute from 2010 to 2011. He currently lectures at TAI University of the Arts and has also taught at Universidad Camilo José Cela and at EAE Business School. Additionally, Pedro writes articles for Spanish film industry magazine Cineinforme.
As a Logan fellow, Pedro will work on the feature documentary film “LA Queenciañera,” a personal growth story about Bamby Salcedo, a transgender Latina activist, who tries to resolve tensions with her family as she organizes a 50th birthday celebration attended by many people significant to her life and survival.