Skip to main content

Valeria Salinas Toro

Headshot face and top of shoulders of an adult with medium-light skin tone, red braided hair in two ponytails with two braids framing face, smiling

Valeria Salinas Toro is a Creative Technologist, Producer, and Visual Artist. Their interest lies in Afrofuturism, sustainability, community engagement, and speculative design. Their practice spans through various material experimentations such as ceramics, audio-visual interactions, 3D digital art, and film.

Articles

The background photo is from Robert Steven Williams' 'Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story." The sepia photo, from the 1920s, features American author F. Scott Fitzgeralld (right) in a military uniform, and his wife, Zelda, in a strapless evening gown. The photo is repeated and overlaid on top, with a red color effect that distorts the photo. On top the repeated photo sits the logo of Amazon Prime Video. Below the logo, text reads "This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location"
The Amazon Prime Video Direct Purge: A Filmmaker's View
Online Feature
Read More
A mother and her daughter embrace in the glare of sunlight.
Screen Time: Week of March 1, 2021
Blog
Read More
KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW, Professor, UCLA and Columbia Schools of Law. She is an African-American woman, wearing a red blouse under a navy blue blazer; she is seated against a blue backdrop.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of February 22, 2021
Blog
Read More
Yoruba Richen is an African American woman. She has a shaved head and is sporting large abstract dangled metal earrings that reaches her chest. She is wearing a red V-neck top with contrasting black neck band.
IDA Member Spotlight: Yoruba Richen
Blog
Read More
Ellis Haizlip, sits in the middle of the set of his variety show 'SOUL' surrounded by members of the '70s funk band Mandrill, some members of whom are holding their instruments.
Screen Time: Week of February 22
Blog
Read More
This image depicts time travel through the evolution of racial violence in the US. Against the backdrop of a dark sky, speckled with stars, is a shack that serves as a portal for time travel, and above the house floats an apparation of a slave.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of February 15, 2021
Blog
Read More
A man, who is particiapting in a neuroscience focus group, has his eyes closed, and is wearing a device on his head comprised of four neurosensors attached to the top of his head and twolarger sensors above each ear. He in enveloped in a golden aura that resembles the sun.
The Art of Nonfiction is Flourishing, But Are Its Supporters?
Online Feature
Read More
Background image: Director Grace Lee with crew shooting 'And She Could be Next'. IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund logo with a speech bubble noting "New on the application: Authorship"
Why We Are Adding Authorship to the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Production Grant Application
Blog
Read More
Pop star Britney Spears, subject the recnt documentary 'Framing Britney Spears," is pictured performing on stage, wearing an emerald green sequin outfit, singing into a wireless headset, clutching a brown railing, against a mesh, emerald green patterned backdrop.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of February 8, 2021
Blog
Read More
Cinematographer Jenni Morello, the author of this essay, is at left holding her camera in her right arm, her left hand is covering her mouth, and she's looking to her upper left. Director Ana Veselic is at right, holding a sound monitor in her right hand and looking and pointing to her upper left.
Addressing Trauma in the Documentary Practice
Online Feature
Read More
Jan Oliver “Ollie” Lucks (left) and his fiance Zoe (right). They are lying in bed, starting at each other. Zoe is pointing her index finger at Ollie's nose.
Doc Star of the Month: Ollie Lucks, 'There Is No "I" in Threesome'
Column
Read More
Nina Simone is sitting on the floor with her right arm propping her up. She is wearing a maxi knit dress, large decorative necklace.
Screen Time: Week of February 8, 2021
Blog
Read More
Notes From The Reel World, Winter 2021
Column
Read More
Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column
Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Winter 2021
Column
Read More
Documenting Legal Cases: Pros and Potential Pitfalls
Column
Read More
Adam Curtis’ 'It Felt Like a Kiss'
Column
Read More
an adult wearing a mask, working a camera monitor
Mediation Matters; Inside the Work-for-Hire Clause
Column
Read More
Towards a Just Filmmaking Model
Feature
Read More
Building More Equitable Hybrid Financing Models
Feature
Read More
A Call for Ethical Infrastructures in the Documentary Industry
Feature
Read More
What We Make Films About
Feature
Read More
IDA Member Spotlight: Julie Wyman
Blog
Read More
Actors Maynor Alvarado and Manuel Uriza, from Alex Rivera and Christina Ibarra's 'The Infiltrators.' Uriza portrays Claudio Rojas, who was deported in 2019. Courtesy of Alex Rivera.
Power and Visibility: The Unfinished Story of 'The Infiltrators'
Online Feature
Read More
Letter to President Biden to End ICE Retribution
Advocacy
Read More
Artist-run Documentary Studios: A New Form of Trust
Feature
Read More
The Right to Big Data
Feature
Read More
The Face of Working Women in Chinese Documentary
Feature
Read More
Putting Trans Power into Action
Feature
Read More
Maria Agui Carter holding a sign with "NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US."
Magical Realism and Other Subversions
Feature
Read More
The noir lighting of Sergio dictating a late-night memo; from Maite Alberdi’s 'The Mole Agent'
‘The Mole Agent’: Film Noir Infiltrates Nonfiction Filmmaking
Column
Read More
Side portrait of a dog from Elizabeth Lo's 'Stray,' a Magnolia Pictures release. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
The Feedback: Elizabeth Lo's 'Stray'
Column
Read More
From Sam Pollard's 'MLK/FBI.' Courtesy of IFC Films
'MLK/FBI' Explores the Complexities of the Civil Rights Icon
Online Feature
Read More
A couple is staring lovinly at each other
Essential Doc Reads: Week of January 11, 2021
Blog
Read More
Barbara Lochiatto, from Lance Oppenheim's 'Some Kind of Heaven,' a Magnolia Pictures release. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
Doc Star of the Month: Barbara Lochiatto, 'Some Kind of Heaven'
Column
Read More
IDA Truth to Power Award: A Conversation with Rappler Reporters
Online Feature
Read More
Michael Apted, speaking at an IDA Screening Series showing of his final film, '63-UP.' Photo: Laura Ahmed
Essential Doc Reads: Week of January 3, 2021
Blog
Read More
From Michael Apted's 'The UP Series.' Courtesy of First Run Features
Screen Time: Week of January 11, 2021
Blog
Read More
From Bryan Fogel's 'The Dissident.'
'The Dissident': Giving Voice to the Silenced
Online Feature
Read More
Amicus Award honoree Regina K. Scully. Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images
Amicus Award: Regina K. Scully, Supporting Filmmakers Who Dare to Go Deeper
Online Feature
Read More
IDA Career Achievement Award: Sam Pollard, Chronicler of the African American Experience
Online Feature
Read More
From Outreach to Impact: Two Decades of Working Films
Online Feature
Read More
Tips for Young Creators from the 2020 Student Documentary Nominees
Blog
Read More
Essential Doc Reads: Week of December 14, 2020
Blog
Read More
Screen Time: Week of December 21, 2020
Blog
Read More
Documentary Producers Find Some Silver Linings Despite COVID Surge
Online Feature
Read More
Looking Beyond 2020, Why Do Documentaries Matter to Democracy?
Online Feature
Read More
Canons Must Fall: Mapping Transitions within the Documentary Space
Blog
Read More
IDA Staff Picks: Documentaries of the Decade
Blog
Read More
Screen Time: Week of December 14, 2020
Blog
Read More
Essential Doc Reads: Week of December 7, 2020
Blog
Read More