John Gutierrez is an award-winning Latine writer, director and producer from California. He has lived and worked in New York, London and Cape Town, and in each place, has learned how to craft stories that cut across geography and towards connection. An American filmmaker with a deep interest in the global, John’s documentaries and narrative features have taken him from the oceans of South Africa to the jungles of Cambodia and the deserts of the southwest. His work powerfully merges themes around family, mental health and psychic collapse, through the genres of thriller, drama and fantasy.
His debut film SONS OF THE SEA, won 'Best South African Film' at the 2021 Durban International Film Festival and was in competition at the Urbanworld and Stony Brook Film Festivals and a finalist at the Austin Film Festival. His latest feature documentary, ORIGINAL SIN: MY SON THE KILLER premiered in 2024 on Showmax and was listed as one of the twenty “hot properties” at 2024 Cannes MIPCOM, and was nominated for best documentary at the Venice TV Awards. His short films TWILIGHT OF THE MASTERS, THREE DAYS GONE, and EQUANIMITY have screened at several international film festivals as well as being exhibited at the Balenciaga Museum in Spain and The Wallace Collection in London. John is also a fellow of the Film Independent 2024 Episodic Directing Intensive and an alum of BFI’s Feature Film Program.
Prior to working as a writer and director, John had already established himself as an exceptional film editor. His exemplary contributions have been honored with a New York Festivals Award for his work on Beyoncé's SWEET DREAMS music video, as well as a Grammy Award for ‘Best Music Film’ for his collaboration with legendary director Peter Bogdanovich on the Tom Petty bio-documentary RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM.