Chelo Alvarez-Stehle facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chelo Alvarez-Stehle
Alvarez-Stehle in Bengal, India, 2000
Born	María Consolación Álvarez González 1957 Logroño, Spain
Occupation	Filmmaker, journalist and author

Chelo Alvarez-Stehle is a Spanish and American journalist and documentary filmmaker. In Japan, she worked as managing editor for International Press En Español weekly and as Tokyo correspondent for El Mundo daily. As a documentary filmmaker she is best known for Sands of Silence (Arenas de Silencio) [es], winner of the 59th Southern California Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club for Best Feature Documentary.

She was the recipient of the "Equality Award Teresa León Goyri - City of Logroño 2022" highlighting the vital and professional career of Alvarez-Stehle as journalist, writer, filmmaker and women's rights advocate. The award of the City of Logroño bears the name of the Spanish politician, writer and activist of the Generation of '27, María Teresa León Goyri, one of the so-called "Hatless Women," as a tribute and recognition of her social commitment and her literary work.

On June 30, 2023, she received the "2022 Human Rights Award" granted by the Observatory for Human Rights of the Government of La Rioja for her life and professional career as a journalist, writer, filmmaker and activist in defense of human rights and women's rights; and for her continued work to contribute to guarantee human rights from culture and journalism.

Personal life

Alvarez-Stehle was born in Logroño, Spain. Daughter of Domingo Álvarez Ruiz de Viñaspre, surgeon and senator, and Consuelo González Oñate. In 2020, she married Mark Stehle (1948-2023,) an economist, who was also her film producing partner, and the son of artist Evelyn Stehle and theoretical physicist Philip Stehle. Their daughter Sangita Stehle is a neuroscience student.

Career

Alvarez-Stehle studied Medicine at University of Navarra and University of Zaragoza but dropped out.

In 1991, she was awarded the EEC's Executive Training Programme (ETP) in Japan fellowship and moved to Tokyo. She then worked for NHK Enterprises in the development of documentary films and as managing editor of International Press en español, Japan’s first Spanish weekly. In 1994, she became Tokyo's correspondent for Spain's El Mundo daily. In 1995, Chelo moved to California, settling in Malibu and continued to contribute to El Mundo and other media outlets such as Geo and Planeta Humano, specializing in social and women’s issues.

In 2002, she became an American Translators Association certified translator (English into Spanish). She has worked as a translator and a copy editor to support her creative work. Her book translation and editing includes museum guides for the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2005, she edited the Spanish edition of Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium. Pope John Paul II, Rizzoli.

In 2006, Alvarez-Stehle produced/directed The Power of 2, a short documentary on Cubans' thirst for inner peace, which has been distributed in over 30 countries.

In 2016 she produced, with director Tim Nackashi, the short Through The Wall, about a family divided by the Mexico-United States border. The film was acquired by The Guardian and by Latino Public Broadcasting for PBS Digital Studios. It won the award for Best Web Series at the 31st Imagen Awards as well as a Social Impact Media Award.

Chelo Álvarez-Stehle at Instituto Cervantes in Tokyo, 2018.

In 2021, South African publisher Quinton van der Burgh Media, publishes the portrait book 100 Making A Difference, an initiative of Hollywood photographer John Russo, featuring one hundred people and organizations leading social projects, from celebrities like George Clooney, to activists like Malala Yousafzai, and including among them Chelo Alvarez-Stehle.

In 2022, the book Las semillas de Atenea - Historias de Mujeres Brillantes 2, published by the Concejalía de Igualdad del Ayuntamiento de Logroño, dedicates a chapter, written by Pío García Tricio and illustrated by Andrea Acedo Bueno, to Chelo Alvarez-Stehle's work as a documentary filmmaker.

Selected works

Documentary films

• Wisdom in Smoke (Saber a Tabaco) (2006). [short documentary] On the dying figure of Cuba's tobacco factory reader. Produced by EICTV. Cuba: Chelo Alvarez-Stehle et al.
• The Power of 2 (La fuerza de 2) (2006). [short documentary] A group of Cubans searching for inner peace. Produced by innerLENS Productions. Distributed by Visions International. USA/Cuba: Chelo Alvarez-Stehle.
• An Intimate Look at Occupy LA (2011). [short documentary] Produced by C. Alvarez-Stehle. USA: Chelo Alvarez-Stehle. The Huffington Post.
• Through the Wall (2016). [short documentary] On a family divided by the U.S./Mexico border. Produced by Chelo Alvarez-Stehle and Tim Nackashi. USA: Tim Nackashi.
• Montse Watkins: Kamakura Tales. [film] In development. Produced by Chelo Alvarez-Stehle. Spain: Chelo Alvarez-Stehle.
• Green SuperHeroes 2030 (2024). [film] A group of 10 young environmentalists changing the world. Produced by Los Angeles Barea and Chelo Alvarez-Stehle USA: Los Angeles Barea.

Books

• Regiones Imaginarias: En busca de los lugares míticos de la literatura (Imaginary Regions: In search of literature's mythic places) Alvarez-Stehle, C. (2022). Ser tan blanca (Being so white) - Yoknapatawpha. En: Alvarez-Stehle, C. et al: Regiones Imaginarias: En busca de los lugares míticos de la literatura (Imaginary Regions: In search of literature's mythic places). 1st. ed. Spain: Ediciones, pp. 17–37.
• Tras los pasos de Montse Watkins (On Montse Watkins' footsteps). Álvarez, C. (2006). Montse desde quienes la conocieron. En: Tras los pasos de Montse Watkins Autor: Fernando C. Hiriarte Tirone (1st. ed., pp. 47–64). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Agencia Periodística CID – Diario del Viajero®.

Book translation & editing

• Memoria e identidad: Conversaciones al filo de dos milenios (2005) (Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium. Pope John Paul II, Rizzoli). Editing.  ISBN: 978-08-4782-777-0.
• Guía de las Colecciones del Museo de Arte de Filadelfia.(2002).(Philadelphia Museum of Art Handbook), 1st ed. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art. Editing.  ISBN: 08-7633-158-4.
• Y si... (If...) Perry, S. (1995). Los Angeles, Calif.: J. Paul Getty Museum. Translation.  ISBN: 978-08-9236-542-5.
• Guía de las Colecciones Museo J. Paul Getty (Handbook of the Collections), (1995). 1st ed. Malibu, Calif.: J. Paul Getty Museum. Editing. ISBN: 978-08-9236-328-5.
• Astrología y religión en el mundo grecorromano (1989) (Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans), Cumont, F (1994). Barcelona: Edicomunicación, S.A. Translation. ISBN: 978-84-7672-227-5.
• La nube de lo desconocido (1987). (The cloud of unknowing, 14th century, Anonymous). Barcelona: Edicomunicación, S.A. Translation.  ISBN: 978-84-7672-135-3.

Awards

Human Rights

• "2022 Human Rights Award" granted by the Observatory for Human Rights of the Government of La Rioja

Equality

• "Equality Award Teresa León Goyri - City of Logroño" 2022

Journalism

• 2002 "The Devil's Water" (originally published as "El agua del diablo," Planeta Humano magazine, Spain). Reuters/IUCIN The World Conservation Union Award - Shortlisted.

Film

"Through the Wall". Short Documentary. Spanish title: "A través del muro".

• 2016 Best Web Series — 31st. Imagen Awards – Winner Best Web Series, California, USA2017 SIMA Award – Social Impact Media Awards, Los Angeles, California, USA
• 2017 Critic's Award — Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, California, USA
• 2017 Special Jury Prize — Oxford Film Festival, Mississippi, USA
• 2017 Second Winner — 2016 New Filmmakers from Spain, Los Angeles, California, USA