MFA Documentary Film ’23 alum Enrique Pedráza-Botero has been named a 2027 New America Fellow. The New America Fellows Program supports thinkers, creators, and storytellers whose work shapes public conversation around the defining issues of our time. Each year, the program selects a diverse group of writers, journalists, filmmakers, and innovators pursuing ambitious investigative projects that bring together storytelling, research, and lived experience.
A Colombian filmmaker and visual artist, Pedráza-Botero’s work explores how power, technology, and capital shape everyday life, social behavior, and collective imagination. He currently leads the Documentary Film in the Public Interest initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center, where he examines the evolving role of documentary and civic storytelling in today’s digital information environment.
Previously, Pedráza-Botero spent six years at Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program, where he led international strategy, directed creative labs, and supported nonfiction filmmakers around the world. His films have screened at festivals and institutions including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, MoMA, Film at Lincoln Center, and the Museum of the Moving Image.
His current documentary series, S.E.C.T.O.R. B, examines how border security infrastructure is transforming immigrant communities across the United States. Through archival research, social media footage, and spatial analysis, the project explores how surveillance technologies and public-private security systems are extending the reach of the border into everyday public life.