Sabrina Avilés is an award-winning independent filmmaker, educator, and the Founder/Executive Director of CineFest Latino Boston. In 2023, she was awarded the prestigious Brother Thomas Fellowship, and in 2019, she was named a LEF Flaherty Fellow.

Her credits include a short documentary called “Raising the Floor” about a basic income pilot implemented in Chelsea, MA during the pandemic.

Born in NYC, and as a first-generation daughter of Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants, she sees her life reflected in the stories she documents about Latinx communities. A graduate of Boston University’s film program, her goal as a documentary filmmaker is to tell in-depth stories, documented over a period of time, that require longer substantive conversations with the community, and that move beyond the headlines. By drawing attention to the issues Latinx communities face, she hopes her films will shift perspectives and foster a deeper understanding of the human experience.

She is currently producing several projects: a documentary about Chelsea, Massachusetts, which delves into the city's challenges and resilience through the stories of three local leaders; an episode of American Experience that examines Puerto Rico’s complex history as a U.S. colony; and The Pneumafractalist, a powerful narrative about an autistic artist who, after surviving deep childhood trauma, returns to rural Kansas to direct an autobiographical film shaped by a profound new understanding of self.