Filmmaker
In 2001, Laura Castañeda left local news to work on San Diego Insider Magazine, a longer format news magazine show on Cox Cable. It was working on those stories, that sparked her interest in working in the documentary film world. She is now working on her fifth film.
Before the pandemic, a group of students at San Diego City College began producing a documentary on the life of Tommy Sablan, a former City College student who went on to become the first and only radio producer inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. The students graduated without completing the film so as faculty advisor Castañeda, summoned the help of journalist and Professor Ninette Sosa (University of Arkansas- Fayetteville) the film will be completed in 2023.
In 2018, Castañeda produced a short documentary, Maid in America, which debuted at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. It tells the story of a domestic worker from Mexico, who left her own children behind, to raise American children, and risked being charged by the U.S. government for working illegally in San Diego. In 2008, San Diego witnessed one of the worst wildfires in the county's history. With little notice, she embarked on an incredible journey to document the tragedy of 11 undocumented people who died in the 2008 San Diego Wildfires.
The Devil's Breath was nominated for an Emmy Award by the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. The documentary first aired on UCSD-TV and was later revised for audiences at various PBS stations and film festivals across the country.
In 2004, Laura was contracted by The World Cultures Program at San Diego City College to produce her first documentary film, Hybrid Identities, about a group of Tijuana Artists.