2024 AAAFF Jury
For each film festival, AAAFF assembles a Narrative & Documentary Jury of peers from the film and entertainment industry to select awards.
Categories include jury selections for feature and short films.
Narrative Jury
Alejandra Martinez
Alejandra Martinez is a Tejana writer, film critic, and archivist. She is a member of the Austin Film Critics Association. Her writing has been published in multiple outlets including The Austin Chronicle, The Wrap, RogerEbert.com, and Letterboxd Journal. You can often find her reading a good book, watching movies, or writing at your local coffee shop.
Animon Jose
A passionate advocate for independent cinema's power to ignite social change, Animon Jose brings a wealth of experience to the jury. Deeply involved in Austin's independent film scene, he serves on the board of Indie Meme and has spearheaded the programming team for the past two years. His keen eye for storytelling extends beyond film, as evidenced by his work as Indie Meme's Design Director, where he crafts captivating festival posters.
Animon's commitment to community extends beyond film. He actively volunteers as co-chair of the Texas Chapter for the Shanti Bhavan Children's Project. Professionally, Animon leads the custom solutions team at KPMG's Tax Technology division.
Kayla Abuda Galang
Born in Olongapo City, Philippines, and raised across San Diego and Houston, Kayla Abuda Galang is an award-winning filmmaker whose work draws from the funny minutiae of her communities, surroundings, and memory. Her latest film, When You Left Me On That Boulevard, made its debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2023. She is currently based in Austin, Texas, and is in development for her debut feature film.
Documentary Jury
Chelsea Hernandez
Chelsea Hernandez is an Emmy®-nominated Mexican-American Director and Producer based in Texas. Named as DOC NYC’s 2021 40 Under 40 Class, her first feature documentary BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM (SXSW, PBS) won a Silver Telly Award for Social Impact and was nominated for a National Emmy in 2021.
Chelsea’s producing work spans over 15 years in television and film including United Tacos Of America (El Rey Network series); and That Animal Rescue Show (Paramount +). Her second feature documentary BREAKING THE NEWS (Tribeca), a co-production with ITVS was broadcast on Independent Lens/PBS in February 2024.
Chelsea is a Ford Foundation/Just Films grantee, BAVC National Mediamaker Fellow, Firelight Doc Lab Fellow and Tribeca All Access Alum. She is also a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia and co-founder of Tejanas in Film.
Li Lu
Li was born in Suzhou, China, and raised in Sugar Land, TX. Her award-winning projects have been supported by Sundance, Firelight Media, Ford Foundation, Austin Film Society, Gotham, and others. Her narrative feature, television, and documentary work can be streamed on Hulu, Disney+, Amazon, and Netflix. A lover of all storytelling, Li strives to create bold and fearless projects spanning genre and form.
Mohit Mehta
Mohit is the Assistant Director for the Center for Asian American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and PhD candidate in Curriculum & Instruction in the College of Education. A former elementary bilingual teacher, Mohit has taught in Austin public schools as well as in India, Palestine, Guatemala and Nicaragua. He helped write curriculum and co-taught the first Asian American Studies high school course in Texas.
In his own words: "Asian American documentaries like Who Killed Vincent Chin? (Christine Choy & Rajinee Tajima-Peña, 1987) and Taxi-vala/autobiography (Vivek Bald, 1996) have been foundational to my understanding of complex social issues concerning Asian Americans. In the decades since, documentarians have provided a look into stories that bring attention to a wide range of topics that give us a collective sense of being Asian American."