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Arts Division
Film and Digital Media Department
Assistant Professor
Faculty
Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas
Regular Faculty
Documentary Film
Documentary Studies
Film
Television
American Cinema
Screen Acting and Performance
Digital Arts Research Center
143
https://calendar.app.google/VMk5oz4q4ZqzmoBS7
IN PERSON: [not available during summer]; via Zoom: https://calendar.app.google/VMk5oz4q4ZqzmoBS7
Film and Digital Media
JON AYON is a writer and director from Oakland, CA, by way of Northeast LA, where he was born and raised. Ayon is a native Spanish speaker and currently an assistant professor of film and digital media at UC Santa Cruz. He earned his BA in cinema production from San Francisco State University and his MFA in documentary film and video production from Stanford.
As a Mestizo (Comcáac/Nahua-Salvadoreño/Xicano) son of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants, Ayon grew up with a massive family split not only by political borders but also by cultural ones—Indigenous, Spanish, and African. Because of this, Ayon’s work often focuses on the hybridizations and ruptures of ancestral and modern cultures that shape the urban Mestizo family representing a large percentage of immigrant households in North America.
Ayon’s documentary films have won awards like the Grand Prize in '18 Coppola Director’s Short Competition, '20 Best Documentary Short from NewFilmmakers LA, and '22 Full Frame President’s Award, among others. His work has also been nominated for awards from IDA, Screencraft, Nantucket Film Festival, and Slamdance. In '22, he was awarded the North Star fellowship at Camden International Film Festival and a Filmhouse residency at SFFILM.
His latest short, NIKI•TOMI•BETO, is in national festival circulation and recently won Best Director at the 2026 Burbank International Film Festival. He was recently selected as a 2027 California Arts Council Emerging Artist Fellow, '26-'27 Hellman Fellow, '26 Manchester-Stowe Story Labs Fellow, and '26 Bendfilm: Basecamp Fellow for his feature, In Dreams, I Am a Valley (currently in development).
Jon Ayon is proudly devoted to telling immigrant stories in an anti-immigrant world.
*tips for success in prof. ayon alonso's courses- be proactive and consider the work you want to do in the course prior to enrolling. lastly, why and how are the most important questions to ask yourself about the work you wanna make.
Post-production - Film & Video Editing, Sound Mixing & Mastering, Avid, Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve, ProTools, Ableton, Logic, and After Effects.
Production - Directing actors, Sound recording, Digital and Film Cinematography [ARRI, Sony, Blackmagic, Panasonic, Bolex], Assistant Directing, and Producing.
Pre-production - Screenwriting, Grantwriting, Development, Fundraising, Production Budget, Production Planning, and Storyboarding.
Documentary production, Film production, Latinx/Xicanx/Indigenous/Mestizo Narratives, Screenwriting, Xicanx/Latinx Cinema, Plurinationalist Cinema, Mexican Cinema, Directing Actors, and Independent Cinema.
Social Documentation, Screenwriting, Post Production, Film Production, Directing Actors, Mexican Cinema, Latinx/Xicanx/Indigenous/Mestizx Cinema, Film Development and Pre Production.
2026 26-27 California Arts Council (CAC) Emerging Artist Fellow
2026 Bendfilm: Basecamp Fellow
2026 Best Director, Niki•Tomi•Beto - Burbank International Film Festival
2026 26-27 Hellman Fellowship Https://Academicaffairs.Ucsc.Edu/Faculty-Programs/Hellman-Fellows/
2026 Manchester Film Festival + Stow Story Labs Development Workshop
2026 Audience Award For Best Short Film, Niki•Tomi•Beto - San Francisco Independent Film Festival
2025 Peabody Award For Documentary: One With The Whale [Editor]
2024 Berkeley Film Foundation Narrative Grant Award - Niki•Tomi•Beto
2023 Yearlong Fellowship: Sundance Doc Program Edit Lab Finalist – Mestizx: Aquí Y Allá
2023 Yearlong Fellowship: Screencraft Short Screenplay Finalist - Niki•Tomi•Beto
2022 Best Short Film: No Soy Óscar Highland Park Indie Film Festival
2022 Best International Doc: No Soy Óscar Puerto Rico Film Festival
2022 North Star Fellowship: Mestizx: Aquí Y Allá Weeklong Fellowship With The Points North Institute In Camden, Me
2022 David Wolpner Award Nominee: No Soy Óscar Ida Awards (International Documentary Association)
2022 President's Award: No Soy Óscar Full Frame Documentary Festival
2022 Yearlong Fellowship: Residency – Mestizx: Aquí Y Allá Sffilm Filmhouse
2021 Best Documentary: Manzanal Newfilmmakers La
2020 Best Realistic Short: Manzanal Reale Film Festival
2020 Virginia Dares Cinematic Arts Award For Decolonizing/Re-Indigenizing Media: Manzanal Virginia Tech College Of Liberal Arts
2020 Best Short Film, Documentary: Manzanal Newfilmmakers La
2020 Lead Artist, The Charla Fund Us Latinx Art Forum
2019 Portland Dark Diversity & Inclusion Writing Fellowship: Lower Boom Studios
2018 Grand Prize: Sombras (Shadows) Francis Ford Coppola Short Film Competition
2018 Lead Artist, Production Grant - Sombras (Shadows), The Annenberg Foundation
FILM: No Soy Óscar (2021) - https://vimeo.com/ondemand/nosoyscar
PODCAST: The Border Crossed Us (2021) - https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/4ef64ddc/the-border-crossed-us?rq=border
FILM: Manzanal (2020) - https://vimeo.com/ondemand/manzanal
FILM: Sombras (Shadows) (2017) - https://vimeo.com/ondemand/sombrasfilm
Huerta Rodriguez, Libertad (lhuert11)
De La Hoz, Isabella (idelahoz)
, (ebelezzu)
SOCD294A
SOCD201A
SOCD201B
FILM172
FILM170B
FILM 196A
FILM 20P
SOCD 294C
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