About Me
Marla is an award-winning filmmaker and educator. She runs the Multimedia department and teaches film production at Cal State LA, where she received her MFA in Theater Film and Television. Her passion for authentic storytelling has guided her to create content that showcases the underrepresented human experience. Her mission in-this lifetime is to inspire and empower diverse communities to tell their own stories through media.
Marla directed the Outfest Fusion Grand Jury prize winning short film I Know Who I Am, about a young Latinx girl who defies her conservative parents by taking her trans boyfriend to the prom. She edited the award-winning feature film Sands of Silence a documentary on sexual exploitation that has garnered numerous awards and was nominated best documentary by the Imagen Awards.
Marla received the Hollywood Foreign Press Association award in 2008, 2009, and 2011. She is the recipient of a Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the Susan G. Steiner award in 2011. She has directed, edited and produced several short films, documentaries, promos and commercials.
Marla directed the Outfest Fusion Grand Jury prize winning short film I Know Who I Am, about a young Latinx girl who defies her conservative parents by taking her trans boyfriend to the prom. She edited the award-winning feature film Sands of Silence a documentary on sexual exploitation that has garnered numerous awards and was nominated best documentary by the Imagen Awards.
Marla received the Hollywood Foreign Press Association award in 2008, 2009, and 2011. She is the recipient of a Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the Susan G. Steiner award in 2011. She has directed, edited and produced several short films, documentaries, promos and commercials.