Mykel Salazar

I am an Indigenous award-winning filmmaker from the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico, USA. I come from a long line of multidisciplinary creators but I’m the first in my family to work in cinema. Starting my career as a production assistant and worked my way into the Directors Guild of America as a First Assistant Director. While executing the visions of others on projects featured at Sundance, Berlinale, and Tribeca, I felt a fierce, undeniable need to tell my own stories and stepped fully into the role of writer-director. 

My personal directing style is precise and physical. I favor intimate close-ups, deliberate pacing, and long takes with sparse dialogue to create immersive, psychologically rich experiences. Influenced by the stark, isolated landscapes of the Southwest, my films focus on queer women and intimacy through the female gaze, blending realism with the surreal. My Assistant Director background instilled a rigorous on-set discipline and commitment to safety and ethics that I bring to my own projects.

My directorial shorts have screened at multiple Oscar-qualifying festivals and earned over 15 accolades, including Best Director, Best Queer Film, and Best Cause-Driven Film. Passionate about using cinema to drive real change, recently I co-wrote and directed The Bookstore, a short film that helped pass the historic 2026 New Mexico Immigrant Safety Act. I was named a Rising Star by the New Mexico Film & Television Hall of Fame. I also serve on the board and the Government and Advocacy subcommittee of New Mexico Women in Film. I split home between New Mexico and Spain with my wife, Lena, and our rescue pitbull, Storm.