Hernando Cortes Watson is a 2023 Sundance Episodic Program Fellow for their groundbreaking series, Horsepower. Born outside Los Angeles and raised outside New York City by their Filipino mother, they were inspired by the educational paths of mavericks Francis Ford Coppola and Ang Lee. They graduated from UCLA’s renowned Theater program in Stage Directing and began their career in entertainment working on the productions of master filmmakers (Oliver Stone, Mike Nichols, Noah Baumbach). They made their feature directorial debut with A Reunion, a queer semi-autobiographical road movie shot across nine states, during their final year at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where they earned their MFA in Film and TV Production.
Cortes Watson, whose work has screened at film festivals around the globe, is an alum of the Sundance Institute (Virtual Reality Lab, Short Film Connection), Tribeca Film Institute (Tribeca All Access), Film Independent’s Project:Involve and the Reykjavik International Film Festival's Talent Lab. Empowered to tell compelling and diverse stories under their Watson PublicWorks banner, they have developed projects with A24, Escape Artists, Catchlight Studios, A&E Studios, Carol Baum Productions, Will Packer Productions, and Eric Heisserer’s Chronology.
A relentless, experiential artist, they have also worked in premium television as Script Coordinator on American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace and Ratched and as Staff Writer on Netflix's Hollywood. Hernando is a proud member of the WGA and is in post of their first documentary feature, Body of Work: The Rebirth of Hernando Cortes, a cinematic memoir that chronicles their gender transition after near-death.