Hello!

Miguel Angel Durán is an award-winning Mexican-American writer and director with a diverse portfolio encompassing documentaries, shorts, and branded content. Hailing from the vibrant cultural landscape of the Los Angeles area, Miguel is driven by a profound commitment to amplify films rooted in Latino and Indigenous experiences.

His passion for storytelling came early in his life. When he was five years old his parents took him to see La Bamba, a movie chronicling the life of the famous Chicano rocker, Ritchie Valens, who hailed from Miguel's very own community. This cinematic encounter proved transformative, crystallizing Miguel's lifelong commitment to the world of cinema.

At the young age of 23, he directed his first feature-length documentary, "Unrest," which focuses on the tumultuous founding of the first Chicana/o Studies Department in the US. Miguel's talent for documentary filmmaking continued to shine through his next project, "The Valley in The Struggle," a powerful thirty-minute documentary that chronicles the United Farm Worker’s fight for farmworker justice in the late 1960s, narrated by acclaimed actor Jacob Vargas.

In 2020, he released "Immigrant Voices of America," an award-winning eight-episode documentary series that won the Jury Award for Best Episodic Documentary at the 2020 Bentonville Film Festival.

After a decade in the documentary space, Miguel has expanded his portfolio to include narrative work. Miguel's pilot for "A Mother's Love" earned recognition as a semi-finalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft’s TV Pilot Script Competition, while his feature-length script, "Spellcaster," was selected for future development and mentorship by the Mexican-American Cultural Education Foundation’s Master’s Workshop in 2024.

In a pivotal career move, Miguel assumed the role of Head of Production at Avenida Studios in 2022, a groundbreaking Latino-owned movie studio challenging Hollywood norms by empowering independent filmmakers.

Also, in 2022, Miguel became a fellow for the prestigious Latino Film Insitute x Netflix Inclusion Fellowship, securing a production grant to bring his short film, Death in Training, to life. His short film has garnered recognition at esteemed film festivals such as the New York Latino Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Film Festival, and the Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival, just to name a few.

Regardless of the genre or format, Miguel's ultimate goal is to create powerful stories that resonate with audiences and leave a lasting impact.

Aside from his filmmaking prowess, Miguel is also an avid player of the Mesoamerican Ballgame, an ancient sport once played by the Aztecs and Maya. This game, which holds the distinction of being the oldest in the world to use a rubber ball, dates back over 3,500 years. Miguel has dedicated the last five years to mastering the sport and has proudly represented the United States in international competitions twice. Currently, he serves as the national trainer for the USA, furthering the legacy of this historic game.