is a Los Angeles native whose distinctive writing and filmmaking voice she attributes to her Mexican and Midwest heritage, in addition to being on the spectrum.
Michelle's first film, Silence, was featured in two screenings at the Director's Guild Theater, in Los Angeles, at the Los Feliz Theater, the L.A. Film Forum, and at Laemmle’s Royal Theater. Silence was also featured at the Benefit for the Foundation for Art Resources at the Pacific Design Center.
As a directing Fellow of The American Film Institute, Michelle earned her Master of Science. The American Film Institute described her as a "...gifted, original talent and ... true storyteller" and featured her in an AFI Lifetime Achievement red carpet event and broadcast on CBS.
Michelle was a Mary Pickford and Remy Martin Foundations' Grants recipient. She was interviewed by the American Film Magazine and the New York Times, who described her 16MM narrative short, Pinfeathers, as being the least like the typical L.A. product and having a “Salammbô-like decadence around the edges ...”. Scarecrow Video (described by Italian film director, Bernardo Bertolucci, as being the best video store in the world) called Pinfeathers "Disturbing and dreamlike" and added it to their permanent viewing archive. Pinfeathers went on to win at the Chicago International Film Festival. It was also picked up for distribution by Dark’s Art Parlour and offered for sale on their website and at horror/fantasy conventions around the United States. When the Tribeca's MacArthur Foundation granted 1-million dollars to the Reframe project, Tribeca asked AFI for a selection of short films to showcase and offer for sale.
Pinfeathers was almost twenty years old when AFI selected it to be one of thirteen films to represent their entire catalog of shorts that spanned decades.
Michelle is the author of When Rent is Due, a play that premiered at The New City Theater in Seattle, where she produced, directed, and designed its production.
She authored All the Leaving, a novel that has been translated into Spanish and sold in bookstores throughout Mexico City and at the Benito Juárez International Airport.
(All the Leaving is available at Amazon, Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, Homeboy Industries, in Los Angeles, and in a Kindle ebook edition).
In addition to holding an MS in directing from AFI, Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science in digital filmmaking from the Los Angeles Film School and is in the last year of earning her Entertainment Business Bachelor's degree.
