John Leanos

User John Leanos

User Professor

User831-459-1887

User jleanos@ucsc.edu

Arts Division

Professor

Faculty

Latin American & Latino Studies
Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas
Art Department

Faculty
Work
Award

Communications Building
X

By Appointment

Film and Digital Media

John Jota Leaños is a Mexican/Italian-American and Chumash interdisciplinary artist, documentary animator, and social art practitioner whose work engages the intersections of history, memory, and power through a social justice lens. A Guggenheim Fellow in Film and Media, Creative Capital Artist, and United States Artist (USA) Fellow, Leaños' practice spans a range of media, including documentary animation, video, public art, installation, and performance. His work disrupts dominant narratives by offering alternative perspectives through strategic social documentation and symbolic intervention.

 

Leaños' animation films have been featured internationally at over 100 film festivals and museums, including PBS.org, the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Morelia International Film Festival, and New York’s Lincoln Center. His animated works have garnered numerous awards, such as Best Short Documentary at Dance Camera West, El XicanIndie Premio Mayor for Most Outstanding Film at XicanIndie Film Festival, and Best Animation at the Cult Critic Movie Awards. Additionally, his films have been recognized at festivals like the New Port Beach Film Festival, Lost River Film Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, and the San Diego Latino Film Festival.

 

A professor in the Department of Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Leaños’ installation work has been exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Whitney Biennial, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and others. His installations, including El Muertorider, a lowrider media installation, have challenged viewers to engage with cultural histories from fresh perspectives.

 

Leaños' Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film, co-directed with Vanessa Sanchez, exemplifies his commitment to community-engaged work. The film, produced in collaboration with ALAS, a farmworker advocacy organization, highlights the resilience of laborers along the U.S.–Mexico border through a blend of Tap, Mexican Zapateado, and Son Jarocho. Ghostly Labor has been featured at the Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center, Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, and several international dance festivals, winning numerous awards and resonating deeply with diverse audiences.

 

His ongoing commitment to exploring Indigenous histories, resilience, and resistance is reflected in his animated documentary series, "Prayers for Redress," in the traveling exhibition Contemporary Ex-Votos: Devotion Beyond Medium, a video installation focused on the traumas of Indigenous children in U.S. and Canadian residential schools.

Documentary Animation
Social Documentary & Social Practice
Chicanx and Latinx Film, Art and Popular Culture
New Media & Techno-Culture

Public Art, Installation & Photography

Documentary Animation History and Production
Social Documentary Practice
New Media & Social Practice
Latina/o Popular Culture

 

2024

- San Francisco Arts Commission Impact Grant

 

2023

- Dance Camera West Film Commission for the film *Convivencia*

 

2021

- Kenneth Rainin Foundation New & Experimental Works Program for dance, theater, and media project *Ghostly Labor*

- National Performance Network (NPN) Production Grant

 

2020

- Virginia Dares Cinematic Art Awards for Decolonizing / Re-Indigenizing Media

- Isadora Duncan Dance Award (Izzie Award): Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Production for *Pachuquísmo*

 

2019

- California Arts Council, Community Arts Engagement Grant

 

2018

- California Humanities, California Documentary Production Fund

- San Francisco Arts Commission, Individual Artist Commission

- San Francisco Foundation Bay Area Documentary Fund

 

2017

- YBCA 100, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

- Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF) Award

 

2012

- Latino Public Broadcasting Public Media Fund

- Guggenheim Fellow

- National Association for Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) Artist Award

 

2011

- United States Artist Fellow

- San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant

 

2010

- Irvine Foundations Creative Connections Grant

 

2009

- The MAP Fund Grant

 

2007

- Creative Work Fund Award

 

2002-03

- Center for Arts and Society Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University

 

2002-11

- Creative Capital Grantee

 

Last modified: Oct 23, 2024