Liz Cardenas
Founder. Producer. Writer. Director. Actor.
A multi-hyphenated storyteller, Liz is a writer, director, producer and actor. She won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature in 2022 for Roshan Sethi’s 7 DAYS (Tribeca | Cinedigm), which she produced for Duplass Brothers Productions, and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award in 2019 for Augustine Frizzell’s NEVER GOIN’ BACK (Sundance | A24), which she produced with Sailor Bear. She was also nominated for the Producer Award at the 2023 Indie Spirits.
Under her Ten to the Six, she has two fiction features in post-production, one documentary feature in production, two fiction features nearing pre-production, one of which she’s set to direct, and several in various stages of development. She’s also currently developing a TV series set in Texas inspired by her award-winning short film, IMAGO, with her collaborator Lío Mehiel (MUTT, IN THE SUMMERS).
A former journalist, she’s a Gotham Cannes Producers Network, Rotterdam Lab and Film Independent Fellow; was one of four producers to receive the inaugural 2022 Dear Producer Grant; and was included in the 2019 LATINXT, a curated list of emerging Latinx creators from an initiative by Zoe Saldana, Robert Rodriguez, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. She was also one of three directors to participate in the invitation-only Austin Film Society Artist Intensive, founded by Richard Linklater, with her upcoming feature directorial debut, JILL TAKES A BREAK. It took place in October 2024, and Noah Hawley was her creative advisor.
Other notable credits include David Lowery's A GHOST STORY (Sundance | A24) starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck; Alex Lehmann's ACIDIMAN (Tribeca | Brainstorm Media) starring Thomas Haden Church and Dianna Agron; Tribeca Award-winning MATERNA (Utopia); 2019 Outfest Best US Narrative Feature JULES OF LIGHT & DARK (Wolfe Releasing); and the Oscar-qualifying short film, BURROS, which was shot on the Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation and executive produced by Eva Longoria.
Liz also serves on the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization, Breaking Through the Lens, which advocates for gender equality in the film industry, and she splits her time between LA and Dallas, where she grew up with her Hispanic father who immigrated to the US from Mexico City and Irish-American mother from the East Coast.