Paco de Onis

Film director and producer from Latin America

Brooklyn (New York)

Paco de Onis grew up in several Latin American countries during times of dictatorships. He is the Executive Director and Executive Producer of Skylight, a human rights media organization dedicated to advancing social justice through storytelling by creating documentaries and media tools that can be used in long-term strategies for positive social change.

Paco co-founded SolidariLabs, a program to disseminate Skylight’s innovative model for creating human rights media ecosystems in collaboration with dedicated media makers, artists, technologists and movement organizations, with the goal of creating lasting networks of 21st century human rights advocates. One of the promising initiatives to emerge from the SolidariLabs network is the Virtual International Volunteers Xchange, VIVX, an app and online platform designed to connect volunteers who will virtually accompany human rights defenders under threat to support the accompaniment work already being done on the ground by organizations like Peace Brigades International, with whom Skylight is partnering.

Paco’s film credits include 500 YEARS, Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, Rebel Citizen, Disruption, State of Fear and The Reckoning, and he is now producing a new project called Borderlands about immigration justice in the United States. The project highlights powerful stories of “just people” motivated by moral conviction and compassion, showing how courageous action in the face of hate and discrimination can lead to the mobilization and defense of human rights.