Michelle Espinosa
is a Los Angeles native whose distinctive writing and filmmaking voice she attributes to her American West and Mexican heritage. As a Directing Fellow of The American Film Institute, she was the Mary Pickford and Remy Martin Foundations Grants recipient. She was also interviewed in American Film magazine and by the New York Times who described her award-winning short film, Pinfeathers, as having a “Salammbô-like decadence ...” Pinfeathers is the recipient of a Silver Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival.
She was featured in American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award broadcast on CBS. The American Film Institute described Michelle as a " ... gifted, original talent and ... true storyteller."
Her first film, Silence, was showcased several times by The Director's Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles and presented by L.A. Film Forum. She is the writer of When Rent is Due, a play (that premiered at New City Theater in Seattle). She authored All The Leaving, a novel that has been translated into Spanish and published in Mexico.
Michelle is currently working on her documentary film about Neurodiversity and is a compulsive, serial short, short (under ten minutes), filmmaker.
She lives in a canyon by the ocean, surrounded by the city of Los Angeles.
Service
Ms. Espinosa spent three days a month in prisons for fifteen years facilitating Alternatives to Violence Project for inmates. AVP is a process by which inmates and community members learn communication, coping skills, and deeper self-awareness as alternatives to violence.
For three years, Michelle was a volunteer responder and on-call manager for the Los Angeles City Mayor's Crisis Response Team. CRT is called on the scene by L.A. Fire and Police Departments to assist witnesses and family when there is a fatality or multi-casualty incident until the Coroner leaves.
While a practicing mediator and facilitator with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for twenty years, Michelle was invited to coach students at U.C.L.A. Law School and peer-to-peer mediators in L.A. middle schools.
Michelle received the Presidential Service Award Medal for Volunteering from President Barack Obama, presented by Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa.