Emmy-winning filmmaker Rudy Valdez started his creative studies in the LCC Theatre Program, not knowing it’d form a foundation for his eventual work in documentaries. After a visit to LCC’s Acting for the Camera class, Rudy joined me and LCC Theatre Prof. Andy Callis to talk about filmmaking, story-telling and finding one’s creative path in the world.

Rudy Valdez is a Michigan-raised, New York City-based filmmaker committed to creating social, cultural, and political stories through a cinematic and meaningful lens. An alum of LCC's Theatre Studio Program, Rudy got his start in film as a camera operator on the Peabody Award-winning Sundance series Brick City. He then shot and directed a true passion project, The Sentence (HBO), winning a Primetime Emmy and a Sundance Film Festival Audience Award among others. Recent projects include Breakaway (ESPN) and We Are: The Brooklyn Saints (Netflix), as well as currently directing the definitive feature documentary of Carlos Santana. http://www.rudyvaldez.com/

Andy Callis is a Theatre director and professor at LCC since 1999 where he’s taught hundreds of students, and directed dozens of plays, in the community and professionally. He holds a M.F.A. in Directing from Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he was founding Artistic Director of ShawChicago, earning Chicago Reader Critics Choice awards. A multi-instrumentalist, Andy leads the band Atomic B00gal00, and performs with various area bands on keyboards and accordion.

Website: Rudy Valdez

Website: The Rudy Valdez Scholarship at LCC

Twitter: The Reel Rudy V.

Email: Andy Callis

Website: LCC Theatre and Dance

Facebook: LCC Performing Arts