For over 25 years Burning Box Studio has been creating award-winning non-fiction films and media content that pushes our civic conversation.  Our films have ranged in content from a falsely imprisoned Black Panther to the role of Mexican Americans in Rock-n-Roll.  Through our films, we entertain, inspire, and educate.   Our goal is to create media that spans divides of difference and create positive connections for social change.  

Panel 1

About Us

For over 20 years, Burning Box Studio has been producing non-fiction films and media content that engages audiences in critical conversations about race, class, poverty, and discrimination. Our films have ranged in content from a falsely imprisoned Black Panther to the role of Mexican Americans in Rock-n-Roll.

Panel 2

Filmmakers

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John J. Valadez – Writer, Director, Producer

John is a Peabody Award winning filmmaker who has directed a dozen nationally broadcast films for PBS.   His work has tackled the false imprisonment of a Black Panther leader; Latino gangs; school segregation; Latino civil rights; and the genocide of Native Americans.  John grew up in Seattle and taught photography in India.  In addition to being a working filmmaker, he is a Professor at Michigan State University currently teaching non-fiction filmmaking in the College of Communications Arts and Sciences and the College of Arts and Letters.

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Carleen Ling-an Hsu – Producer, Editor

Carleen is a two-time Peabody Award winning filmmaker.  She has produced films for HBO, PBS and The Learning Channel.  Her work has explored gender and sexual identity, Nazi experiments on twins, the legacy of Tiananmen Square, and Iran’s Green Revolution.  Carleen grew up in New York, studied at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Like John, she is currently a Professor at Michigan State University teaching filmmaking and producing to undergraduates in the College of Communications Arts and Sciences and the College of Arts and Letters.

Panel 3

Films

Panel 4

Clients

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Carleen Hsu and John Valadez produce non-fiction films for broadcast and a variety of non-fiction content for the web.  Clients and Grants include:


Dance Philm
Renew Media
WETA/Washington
Willow Pond FIlms
WGBH/Boston
Third World Newsreel
Second Generation Media
The Houston Endowment
Roja Productions
The Rockefeller Foundation
The Sundance Documentary Fund
Firelight Media
The Ford Foundation
The Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund
The New York State Council for the Arts
Native American Public Telecommunications
The National Endowment for the Arts
The National Black Programming Consortium
The National Association of Latino Independent Producers
The Center for Asian American Media
The California Council for the Humanities
The Independent Television Service (ITVS)
The Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
The Pratt Institute/School of Design
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
CLIENTS AND FUNDERS
The Ginger Group
Humanities Texas
Great Performances
Granada UK Television
The Houston Endowment
Espinosa Productions
CIne Qua Non Productions
BBC
Charlie Rose
Latino Public Broadcasting
Candlewick Press
Big Mouth Productions
The Ford Foundation
Ardeche Images France
American Masters
KERA/Dallas – Ft. Worth