About
Meet the filmmakers behind Prodigal Daughter / Hija Pródiga,
a documentary born from lived experience, creative vision,
and a shared commitment to telling stories that matter.
Mabel Valdiviezo
Director, Producer, Editor
Mabel Valdiviezo is an award-winning filmmaker, editor, and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores migration, gender, social and environmental equality. Her credits include Following Pal (editor); Carlos Baron, Poeta Pan, PBS/KQED (director/producer); Soledad Is Gone Forever (director/producer); Sands of Silence, PBS World (associate producer); and River Webs, PBS (editor). Valdiviezo is an alumna of the Sundance Producers Conference, the Gotham Documentary Lab, IDA, BAVC, and NALIP.
Sara Maamouri
Co-producer & Editor
Sara Maamouri is a Tunisian American Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and editor whose work touches on social, educational, and political issues. Her recent films include Black Mothers Love & Resist (SFFILM 2022 and SIFF 2022), directed by Débora Silva Souza and Clarissa’s Battle (HRWFF NYC 2022), directed by Tamara Perkins and produced by Maamouri. Maamouri edited and produced We Are Not Princesses (Doc NYC 2018), and edited and co-produced the Peabody Award-winning film The Judge (TIFF 2017).
Chelo Alvarez-Stehle
Associate Producer & Impact Consultant
Chelo Alvarez-Stehle orchestrated her Through the Wall short and Sands of Silence feature documentary impact campaigns from Sidney to Tijuana; universities from Yale to Oxford to Buenos Aires and Hiroshima; women’s rights, human rights and immigrant rights organizations; and the United Nations. Chelo worked as an impact producer for Nasrin,on the jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. She was lead impact producer for From Here (The WORLD Channel/America Reframed) and impact consultant for Storming Caesars Palace (Independent Lens).
Tupac Saavedra
Director of Photography
Tupac Saavedra is a Senior Producer at AJ+. He is a Bolivian-born cinematographer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker who has produced documentaries and short videos for Frontline World, Time/CNN, Yes Magazine, and Latino Public Broadcasting highlighting stories from Mexico, India, Cuba, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia. Saavedra’s films include The Little Prince of the Andes which premiered on Al Jazeera, Witness, Bolivian Baroque, a 42-minute documentary that aired on European television and the film On The Road With Evo, is a close look at Evo Morales the person and the politician.