Merced Elizondo is a Mexican-American filmmaker based out of Texas and Los Angeles.
After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin in 2016, Merced launched his filmmaking career by working on multiple productions all across Texas and served as a Producer with both AMS Pictures and DHD Films. Since then, he has devoted his attention to independent filmmaking, commercials, and branded content. The Mourning Of, a proof-of-concept short film for Merced's debut feature, won Silver at the Young Director Award Dreampitch Competition (Cannes Lions) and was awarded a NewNarratives Filmmaker Grant through NewFilmmakers Los Angeles and Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022. It’s currently in post-production and expected to premiere on the 2024 film festival circuit.
Merced was selected as a Directing Fellow for Ryan Murphy's Half Initiative in 2022, which is a program dedicated for emerging TV directors. In 2021, Merced was nominated for an Imagen Award and selected as a fellow for the Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today program, presented by WarnerMedia and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. He has also been shortlisted for a Young Director Award at Cannes Lions and was selected as a mentee for the AICP (Association of Independent Commercial Producers) Mentoring Program, where he was paired with a mentor from Park Pictures. He was also honored as “Person of the Year” by the National Hispanic Institute in 2021.
A writer at heart, Merced’s creative sensibilities lean towards dramatic narratives and is committed to telling character-driven stories that are cinematic, personal, and most of all-- original. Ultimately, he hopes to offer a unique perspective on subjects/themes that have yet to be seen on screen before and create profound experiences for audiences that move them, inspire them, and compel them to ask new questions of themselves through the marriage of sound and image.
His previous film, MANOS DE ORO, is a black-and-white short film that stars Julio César Cedillo, who can be seen in works such as Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico, Sicario, and the Cannes-winning drama The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. The film was acquired by Argo and has screened at festivals such as the the Oscar®-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, LA Shorts International, LALIFF, the Miami Film Festival, Bentonville Film Festival, and the “InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema” event, hosted by NewFilmmakers LA and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Recently, the film won the “Best Short Film” award at the Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today program.
