Gustavo Vazquez, originally from Tijuana and currently residing in San Francisco, is an independent filmmaker who has directed over thirty productions, including documentaries, video installations, and dramas. Gustavo Vazquez's research interest explores cross-cultural visual studies and video design. Vazquez's interest in border issues and identity has led to a series of independent and collaborative works. His experience of crossing borders has left an imprint offering a personal perspective and access to contemporary ethnographic projects. In many regards, his work reflects both a rooted foundation in negotiating polarity between cultures. In his work we find a conceptual fusion of the opposite realities in class, culture, language by integrating diverse elements to illustrate the marginal and dominant paradigms. His latest documentary Que Viva La Lucha delves into the world of Mexican masked wrestling. He is a co-author of Documentary Filmmaking: A Contemporary Field Guide, published by Oxford University Press in February 2009.

Vazquez is an associate professor in the Film and Digital Media Department at UC Santa Cruz. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Rockefeller Media Fellowship and a Eureka Visual Artist Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation.