introduction & intentions

Photo by Angelica Sanchez.

BIO, an introduction

Helen Peña is a filmmaker and cultural programmer from Miami, FL. They create socially and politically engaged cinematic rituals centered around memory, mysticism and water bodies. Their work has screened in festivals across the country including Prismatic Ground, New Orleans Film Festival and Third Horizon Film Festival. In 2020, Helen participated in the UCLA Sanctuary Spaces Residency, where they worked on their first short film, WHEN ANGELS SPEAK OF LOVE, which screened on PBS South Florida. In 2023, their short film IRRESISTIBLE was selected as a finalist for the New Orleans Film Society South Pitch and The Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant. In 2017, Helen co-founded (F)empower, a collective of queer feminist artist-activists. Their films and culture work have been showcased at the Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, ICA Miami and more. Currently, Helen is pursuing an MFA at California Institute of the Arts and working for Third Horizon Film Festival.