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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
Endless Light
Fairbanks • Feature
Drama, Sci-Fi
Returning home, a bipolar woman attempts to decipher her brother's suicide through occult intervention with Alaska's wilderness.
This project got the green light!
Miles Underwater
San Antonio • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Pozole
Los Angeles • Short
Comedy, Drama
Maia prolly killed her Nana.
This project got the green light!
The Mile Ground
Morgantown • Feature
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
This project got the green light!
The Cold Days of Summer
Utica • Feature
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
This project got the green light!
Emma Was Here
Medford • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Nanay Ko 2
Silver Spring • Feature
Comedy, Musical
An Asian-American Musical. After her father's sudden passing, Christine must save her parents' restaurant from eviction.
This project got the green light!
Gleahan and the Knaves of Industry
Duluth • Feature
Adventure, Comedy
An opportunistic asshole joins the quest of a delusional man who thinks he’s in a fantasy world.
This project got the green light!
AUGGIE
Fairfield • Feature
Drama, Sci-Fi
Forced into early retirement, a man falls in love with his new augmented reality companion, driving away his wife and daughter.
This project got the green light!
Give And Take
Asheville • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
LION KILLER
Houston • Feature
Drama
Fighting Solves Everything
This project got the green light!
Parallel Chords
St. Louis • Feature
Drama, Music
A young violinist struggles to break free from her pianist father to find her own voice.
This project got the green light!
The Way It Goes
Shawnee • Feature
Comedy, Romantic Comedy
Sometimes life just doesn't go as planned.
This project got the green light!
The Inner Edge
Old Bridge Township • Feature
Drama, Fantasy
A NJ cop struggling with changes in her life, has to save a suicidal stranger to unlock what powers lie within her.
This project got the green light!
Between Heaven and Hell
Riverside • Feature
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”
This project got the green light!
Drought
Wilmington • Feature
Comedy, Drama
The summer after high school, Sam searches for a better life for herself and younger brother with Autism.
This project got the green light!
Project Gaslight
Rochester • Feature
Horror, Thriller
New tenants harbor a secret that jeopardizes a young family as the pregnant wife descends into paranoia and delusion.
This project got the green light!
The MisEducation of Bindu
Indianapolis • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Lost Bayou
Lafayette • Feature
Drama, Family
A struggling addict ventures out into the Louisiana swamp to discover that her estranged faith healer father is hiding a troubling secret.
This project got the green light!
Little Evil Bookshop
Seattle • Feature
Comedy, Satire
When the world's most powerful occult leader visits a modest mystic bookshop, its owner must impress him at all costs.
This project got the green light!
Stormie
Santa Maria • Feature
Biography, Drama
An adopted Hispanic teenager looks for his birth family in an attempt to find his place of belonging.
This project got the green light!
Bring Me an Avocado
San Francisco • Feature
Drama
When a violent encounter leaves Robin in a coma, her family ventures to maintain normalcy for her children while managing their own grief.
This project got the green light!
Mow
Boston • Feature
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
This project got the green light!
A Room Full of Nothing
Austin • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
nēar
Stockton • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
The Place in Between
Austin • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
I'll Be Around
Los Angeles • Feature
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
This project got the green light!
ACID TEST (feature film)
Houston • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
This Is Our Home
Media • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
High Note
Friday Harbor • Feature
Crime, Musical
Just your everyday druggie, dramedy, indie musical filled to the brim with Germans, Jesus, banjos, bongos, and backstabbings.
This project got the green light!
Test: A Classic American Story....On Steroids
New Philadelphia • Feature
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
This project got the green light!
The Atavist
Pittsfield • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
D.I.Y.
Philadelphia • Feature
Comedy, LGBTQ
A queer couple is determined to tie the knot their own way.
This project got the green light!
Big Dog City
San Francisco • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
What Lies West
Santa Rosa • Feature
Adventure, Drama
Two girls desperate to create their own adventure set out into the wilderness of California on a daring hike to the coast.
This project got the green light!
"SURE-FIRE" - Development Funding Phase II
New York • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Palace
Bloomington • Feature
Drama
The family-fractured lives of a stubborn mechanic, a retired widower, and a repressed college student intertwine at a bar in rural Indiana.
This project got the green light!
Bedsheet Man
Bradenton • Feature
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
This project got the green light!
White Death
Needham • Feature
Drama
A construction worker tries to leave the family business to pursue his life long dream of making a documentary about great white sharks.
This project got the green light!
Epiphany
Tarpon Springs • Feature
Drama, Family
A young girl struggles to create a relationship with her father after the death of her aunt who raised her.
This project got the green light!
Mini Lights
Saint Petersburg • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Xerxes
Jersey City • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
High
Tabernash • Short
Drama, Experimental
An unnerved young mother and a footloose ski bum unearth suppressed desires in a hazardous twist of encounters.
This project got the green light!
worst.christmas.ever.
Youngstown • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
A Stray Ember
Lancaster • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Just Like The Men
Bellingham • Feature
Comedy, History
Two girls find a lost screenplay and decide to give history the middle finger.
This project got the green light!
Minneapolis (the movie)
Minneapolis • Feature
Comedy, Family
A cocky news anchor team gets stuck "mentoring" an at-risk teen. Shenanigans and dastardly weather conditions ensue…
This project got the green light!
WILLIE, JAMALEY & THE CACACOON
Phoenixville • Feature
Adventure, Comedy
Two misfits adventure out to prove the existence of a local mythological creature.
This project got the green light!
The Blue Whale
Catoosa • Feature
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
This project got the green light!
Fantastic Santa Monaco
Los Angeles • Feature
Drama, Satire
A film about a group of performance artists who are looking for love, connection and significance in Los Angeles.
This project got the green light!
Petals & Stems
Austin • Short
Romantic Comedy, Shorts Program
The idea that nothing lasts forever rings especially true for a modern florist.
This project got the green light!
Hard-ish Bodies
Austin • Short
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.
This project got the green light!
The Kids
Los Angeles • Series
Drama
Bullying. Domestic violence. Drugs. Sexual abuse. Gender identity. Kids have stories, this show will give them a voice.
This project got the green light!
The Fob and I: Season Two
Los Angeles • Series
Comedy
A webseries about 2 Indians that are different.
This project got the green light!
Pair of Normals
New York • Series
Comedy, Music
An anxious, divorced psychic and a disheveled college dropout cross paths in NYC and struggle to put their disastrous lives back together.
This project got the green light!
Twentyfiveish
Los Angeles • Series
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.
This project got the green light!
Hexer
Cardiff • Series
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.
This project got the green light!
Root For The Villain
New York • Series
Comedy, Drama
In a world where 1% of the population has superpowers, Lana is a young parole officer who works with nonviolent super-villains.
This project got the green light!
Pieces Season 3 Web Series
New York • Series
Action, Drama
Pieces is about a group of girls from Brooklyn NY who discovers this secret world of Credit card scamming.
This project got the green light!
TableTalk - Season One
New York • Series
Comedy, Fantasy
A group a friends deal with the changing rules of life seen through the lens of their weekly board-game night.
This project got the green light!
Cleaner Daze
Santa Cruz • Series
Drama, Transmedia
Jasmine, the new counselor at a Juvenile Drug Treatment Center, struggles to mentor a colorful crew of teenage drug addicts.
This project got the green light!
The Karate Tortoise Series
New York • Series
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.
This project got the green light!
Devoti Tutti
Catania • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Pin Up! The Movie
Boulder • Feature
Documentary, Transmedia
Dangerous. Sexy. All American Girl.
This project got the green light!
Jerry the Peddler
New York • Feature
Documentary
Experience the squatting scene on New York City's Lower East Side through the life of its most colorful organizer.
This project got the green light!
Rez Comedy
Red Lake • Feature
Documentary
Two Native American Comedians from different reservations head West to break into the comedy mainstream. Soundtrack by Charlie Parr.
This project got the green light!
Shadows of the Valley
El Paso • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
Building the American Dream
Austin • Feature
Documentary
In the deadliest state for construction, undocumented workers fight for reform of the Texas industry while under the threat of deportation.
This project got the green light!
A punk Daydream
Los Angeles • Feature
Documentary
Indonesia has one of the biggest punk scenes in the world, amidst poverty, pollution and oppression.
This project got the green light!
A Horse of a Different Color
New Orleans • Feature
Documentary
The journey I took into the world of a physically disabled blind man struggling to be normal in an able bodied abnormal world.
This project got the green light!
Time Well Spent
Kailua-Kona • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
The Great Flip-Off
Philadelphia • Feature
Documentary, History
Facing extinction, the last extreme circus bareback riders unite for one final, death-defying performance.
This project got the green light!
Risking Light
Saint Paul • Feature
Documentary
A mother embraces her child’s killer. A torture survivor ponders revenge. What is harder, or more crucial, than forgiving the unforgivable?
This project got the green light!
Don't Talk About the Baby
Washington • Feature
Documentary
There shouldn't be a stigma surrounding miscarriage, stillbirth or infertility. This has happened to someone you know--Let's talk about it.
This project got the green light!
The Construct: Female Laborers and the Fight for Equality
Yangon • Feature
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.
This project got the green light!
The Ties That Bind
Chapel Hill • Feature
Documentary, LGBTQ
When the youngest sibling unexpectedly “gets real”, an uneasy yet courageous journey of transformation ensues for a Southern family.
This project got the green light!
Hearts of Glass
Jackson • Feature
Documentary
The first year in the life of an innovative vertical greenhouse in Jackson, Wyoming that employs community members with disabilities.
This project got the green light!
ANTI-POACHING: Coastal Mozambique
Mozambique • Feature
Documentary
Anti-Poaching: Successful Tactics and Strategies.
This project got the green light!
Love, Hate, Church & State
Nashville • Feature
Documentary, LGBTQ
Evangelicals rise against LGBT in TN, where politics are preached from the pulpit & both sides fight to define "liberty & justice for all."
This project got the green light!
Rideout: One Last Summit
Chiang Mai • Feature
Documentary
The story of a man leaving home to go home.
This project got the green light!
A Queen For The People
New York • Feature
Documentary, LGBTQ
Bob the Drag Queen's career is on the rise. Where the hell she off to next?
This project got the green light!
Inner U Diagnosed?
Bethany • Feature
Documentary
IUD horror stories flood social media with side-effect forums and self-removal videos raising concerns about the device's actual safety.
This project got the green light!
