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Hey, I'm Chelsea!
Austin, Texas
www.buildingtheamericandream.com
Chelsea Hernandez is a 6-time Emmy winning Director, Producer and Editor in the Lone Star Region, picking up four statues in November of 2015. These awards acknowledged her work on Arts In Context, a documentary series produced by KLRU-TV, Austin PBS. Chelsea has directed and produced various feature and short documentaries including See the Dirt, the Best Short Documentary at the 2013 Austin Film Festival. The film creened at multiple fests across the country and at the Edinburgh Int'l Film Festival in Scotland. She co-produced feature-length documentary The Road to Livingston, which was digitally distributed by FilmRise. Chelsea worked under prolific documentary directors Hector Galan (Children of Giant), Ellen Spiro (Body of War) and Nancy Schiesari (Tattooed Under Fire). Chelsea was Associate Producer and Assistant Editor for national PBS specials NOW ON PBS: Fixing the Future, hosted by NPR Marketplace host David Brancaccio and Ancient Roads from Christ to Constantine, a 6-part hourly historical series. Building the American Dream is her directorial debut.
My Projects
Projects I'm Supporting
Miles Underwater
San Antonio • Drama, Family
13-year-old Miles is struggling to find where he belongs when an unusual event forces him to face his biggest fear and take a leap of faith.
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Pozole
Los Angeles • Comedy, Drama
Maia prolly killed her Nana.
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The Mile Ground
Morgantown • Drama, Mystery
The contents of a strange safety deposit box send an opioid addict down a risky road that will lead to her redemption or final destruction
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The Cold Days of Summer
Utica • Crime, Drama
A boxer battles injury, criminals, and an authoritarian school board to save his scholarship and learn the true cost of the American dream
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Emma Was Here
Medford • Drama
A terminally-ill woman goes on a trip with friends before deciding whether she will go through with her choice of physician-assisted dying.
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Nanay Ko 2
Silver Spring • Comedy, Musical
An Asian-American Musical. After her father's sudden passing, Christine must save her parents' restaurant from eviction.
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Gleahan and the Knaves of Industry
Duluth • Adventure, Comedy
An opportunistic asshole joins the quest of a delusional man who thinks he’s in a fantasy world.
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AUGGIE
Fairfield • Drama, Sci-Fi
Forced into early retirement, a man falls in love with his new augmented reality companion, driving away his wife and daughter.
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Give And Take
Asheville • Comedy, Documentary
In this sincere comedy about parenting, a father who's lost custody of his rebellious daughter kidnaps her in a plan to save her future.
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LION KILLER
Houston • Drama
Fighting Solves Everything
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Parallel Chords
St. Louis • Drama, Music
A young violinist struggles to break free from her pianist father to find her own voice.
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The Way It Goes
Shawnee • Comedy, Romantic Comedy
Sometimes life just doesn't go as planned.
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The Inner Edge
Old Bridge Township • Drama, Fantasy
A NJ cop struggling with changes in her life, has to save a suicidal stranger to unlock what powers lie within her.
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Between Heaven and Hell
Riverside • Drama, Fantasy
On 11/22/63, John F. Kennedy, CS Lewis and Aldous Huxley all died within moments of each other and meet in a place “somewhere beyond death”
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Drought
Wilmington • Comedy, Drama
The summer after high school, Sam searches for a better life for herself and younger brother with Autism.
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Project Gaslight
Rochester • Horror, Thriller
New tenants harbor a secret that jeopardizes a young family as the pregnant wife descends into paranoia and delusion.
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The MisEducation of Bindu
Indianapolis • Comedy, Drama
Thrust into American public school by her mother’s new marriage, a wide-eyed Indian teen teams up with a band geek to survive.
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Lost Bayou
Lafayette • Drama, Family
A struggling addict ventures out into the Louisiana swamp to discover that her estranged faith healer father is hiding a troubling secret.
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Little Evil Bookshop
Seattle • Comedy, Satire
When the world's most powerful occult leader visits a modest mystic bookshop, its owner must impress him at all costs.
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Stormie
Santa Maria • Biography, Drama
An adopted Hispanic teenager looks for his birth family in an attempt to find his place of belonging.
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Bring Me an Avocado
San Francisco • Drama
When a violent encounter leaves Robin in a coma, her family ventures to maintain normalcy for her children while managing their own grief.
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Mow
Boston • Comedy, Drama
The film is a grounded comedy that follows a struggling mother and son in the wake of a questionable job termination as they try to pay thei
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A Room Full of Nothing
Austin • Adventure, Romance
In this Swiss Army Man meets Eternal Sunshine adventure an artistic couple's life takes a bizarre turn when they wake up alone in the world.
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nēar
Stockton • Crime, Drama
"nēar" follows 17-year-old Julian upon his escape from the hospital on Christmas Eve, the day which is literally the last day of his life.
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The Place in Between
Austin • Comedy, Drama
What could possibly go wrong when a mom and her teenage daughter meet for the first time on a road trip across TX? . . . Everything.
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I'll Be Around
Los Angeles • Drama, Comedy
Against the backdrop of a post-punk music festival, a handful of 30-somethings deal with a wide variety of social and philosophical issues
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ACID TEST (feature film)
Houston • Comedy, Drama
The absurdly dramatic coming-of-age story of a teenage girl who launches a rebellion when she drops acid and goes home to her parents.
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This Is Our Home
Media • Drama, Thriller
A struggling couple's weekend getaway goes awry when a child arrives in the middle of the night claiming he's their son.
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High Note
Friday Harbor • Crime, Musical
Just your everyday druggie, dramedy, indie musical filled to the brim with Germans, Jesus, banjos, bongos, and backstabbings.
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Test: A Classic American Story....On Steroids
New Philadelphia • Sport, LGBTQ
A young bodybuilder living in Ohio defies his religious mother when he follows the county's best coach into a world of steroid abuse
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The Atavist
Pittsfield • Adventure, Sci-Fi
A young woman travels to the past, but when the things she leaves alter history, she must get them back to save the future.
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D.I.Y.
Philadelphia • Comedy, LGBTQ
A queer couple is determined to tie the knot their own way.
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Big Dog City
San Francisco • Drama, Other
Set within Bay Area art/slacker culture, we follow two characters as they weave across a place and identity which doesn't fit them anymore.
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What Lies West
Santa Rosa • Adventure, Drama
Two girls desperate to create their own adventure set out into the wilderness of California on a daring hike to the coast.
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"SURE-FIRE" - Development Funding Phase II
New York • Comedy, Crime
SURE-FIRE is a comedy about a NYC con man having a mid-life crisis who stumbles into becoming a movie producer to pay off gangsters.
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Palace
Upland • Drama, Family
The family-fractured lives of a stubborn mechanic, a retired widower, and a repressed college student intertwine at a bar in rural Indiana.
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Bedsheet Man
Bradenton • Comedy, Drama
A middle aged man looses his son to suicide only to find a strange way to cope with his grief. He becomes the superhero that his son always
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White Death
Needham • Drama
A construction worker tries to leave the family business to pursue his life long dream of making a documentary about great white sharks.
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Epiphany
Tarpon Springs • Drama, Family
A young girl struggles to create a relationship with her father after the death of her aunt who raised her.
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Mini Lights
Saint Petersburg • Horror
A group of skaters roams the haunted nooks of St. Petersburg Fl. where an unquenchable tragedy watches from the darkness waiting for a host.
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Xerxes
Jersey City • Sci-Fi, Thriller
While recovering at his estranged childhood home from cochlear implant surgery, Xerxes spirals down the rabbit hole and may never climb out.
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High
Tabernash • Drama, Experimental
An unnerved young mother and a footloose ski bum unearth suppressed desires in a hazardous twist of encounters.
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worst.christmas.ever.
Youngstown • Comedy, Teen
A dark comedy about a 15-year-old girl whose entire world falls apart after she discovers that she's pregnant on Christmas Eve.
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A Stray Ember
Lancaster • Drama, Thriller
The agoraphobic victim of a home invasion takes to the road in a motor home, but a figure from her past threatens her new found freedom.
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Just Like The Men
Bellingham • Comedy, History
Two girls find a lost screenplay and decide to give history the middle finger.
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Minneapolis (the movie)
Minneapolis • Comedy, Family
A cocky news anchor team gets stuck "mentoring" an at-risk teen. Shenanigans and dastardly weather conditions ensue…
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WILLIE, JAMALEY & THE CACACOON
Phoenixville • Adventure, Comedy
Two misfits adventure out to prove the existence of a local mythological creature.
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The Blue Whale
Catoosa • Teen, Drama
In 1980's rural Oklahoma a teenage boy meets a girl from California who helps him break out of his shell and learn the truth of his heritage
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Fantastic Santa Monaco
Los Angeles • Drama, Satire
A film about a group of performance artists who are looking for love, connection and significance in Los Angeles.
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Petals & Stems
Austin • Romantic Comedy, Shorts Program
The idea that nothing lasts forever rings especially true for a modern florist.
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Hard-ish Bodies
Austin • Comedy, Shorts Program
An ensemble comedy featuring the men and women of Stoney’s Rock Hard Palace - a male strip club with dancers of all shapes and sizes.
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The Kids
Los Angeles • Drama
Bullying. Domestic violence. Drugs. Sexual abuse. Gender identity. Kids have stories, this show will give them a voice.
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The Fob and I: Season Two
Los Angeles • Comedy
A webseries about 2 Indians that are different.
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Pair of Normals
New York • Comedy, Music
An anxious, divorced psychic and a disheveled college dropout cross paths in NYC and struggle to put their disastrous lives back together.
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Twentyfiveish
Los Angeles • Comedy, Drama
Rosie travels with her best friend Tucker for a long weekend, and faces former high school friends as they all face uncertain futures.
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Hexer
Cardiff • Comedy, Drama
A lineage of a thousand female Hexers and he ruined it. Hexer is just your normal story with LGBTQA+ characters, PoC's and blood magic.
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Root For The Villain
New York • Comedy, Drama
In a world where 1% of the population has superpowers, Lana is a young parole officer who works with nonviolent super-villains.
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Pieces Season 3 Web Series
New York • Action, Drama
Pieces is about a group of girls from Brooklyn NY who discovers this secret world of Credit card scamming.
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TableTalk - Season One
New York • Comedy, Fantasy
A group a friends deal with the changing rules of life seen through the lens of their weekly board-game night.
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Cleaner Daze
Santa Cruz • Drama, Transmedia
Jasmine, the new counselor at a Juvenile Drug Treatment Center, struggles to mentor a colorful crew of teenage drug addicts.
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The Karate Tortoise Series
New York • Comedy, Sci-Fi
A Damsel goes on a quest to protect the clumsy superhero, Karate Tortoise, from becoming the lunch of the evil chef, Fatty Bonati.
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Devoti Tutti
Catania • Documentary
Saint Agatha of Catania was killed for resisting the advances of a Roman governor. Her story has always been told by men — until now.
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Pin Up! The Movie
Boulder • Documentary, Transmedia
Dangerous. Sexy. All American Girl.
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Jerry the Peddler
New York • Documentary
Experience the squatting scene on New York City's Lower East Side through the life of its most colorful organizer.
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Rez Comedy
Red Lake • Documentary
Two Native American Comedians from different reservations head West to break into the comedy mainstream. Soundtrack by Charlie Parr.
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Shadows of the Valley
El Paso • Documentary
When cartel wars erupt in the Valley of Juarez, a man must risk his life to rescue orphans hiding in the shadows of the Valley of Death.
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Building the American Dream
Austin • Documentary
In the deadliest state for construction, undocumented workers fight for reform of the Texas industry while under the threat of deportation.
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A punk Daydream
Los Angeles • Documentary
Indonesia has one of the biggest punk scenes in the world, amidst poverty, pollution and oppression.
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A Horse of a Different Color
New Orleans • Documentary
The journey I took into the world of a physically disabled blind man struggling to be normal in an able bodied abnormal world.
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Time Well Spent
Kailua-Kona • Documentary, Sport
A story of four boys who go on the surf trip of a lifetime to discover their worth, and that your past does not define your future.
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The Great Flip-Off
Philadelphia • Documentary, History
Facing extinction, the last extreme circus bareback riders unite for one final, death-defying performance.
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Risking Light
Saint Paul • Documentary
A mother embraces her child’s killer. A torture survivor ponders revenge. What is harder, or more crucial, than forgiving the unforgivable?
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Don't Talk About the Baby
Washington • Documentary
There shouldn't be a stigma surrounding miscarriage, stillbirth or infertility. This has happened to someone you know--Let's talk about it.
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The Construct: Female Laborers and the Fight for Equality
Yangon • Documentary
The Construct gives a voice to the women physically constructing development in what has been one of the most isolated nations in the world.
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The Ties That Bind
Chapel Hill • Documentary, LGBTQ
When the youngest sibling unexpectedly “gets real”, an uneasy yet courageous journey of transformation ensues for a Southern family.
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Hearts of Glass
Jackson • Documentary
The first year in the life of an innovative vertical greenhouse in Jackson, Wyoming that employs community members with disabilities.
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ANTI-POACHING: Coastal Mozambique
Mozambique • Documentary
Anti-Poaching: Successful Tactics and Strategies.
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Love, Hate, Church & State
Nashville • Documentary, LGBTQ
Evangelicals rise against LGBT in TN, where politics are preached from the pulpit & both sides fight to define "liberty & justice for all."
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Rideout: One Last Summit
Chiang Mai • Documentary
The story of a man leaving home to go home.
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A Queen For The People
New York • Documentary, LGBTQ
Bob the Drag Queen's career is on the rise. Where the hell she off to next?
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Inner U Diagnosed?
Bethany • Documentary
IUD horror stories flood social media with side-effect forums and self-removal videos raising concerns about the device's actual safety.
