{{short description|American filmmaker and musician|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}

{{Infobox person | name = Stefan Avalos | image= | birth_date = | birth_place = United States | occupation = Film director, Writer, Producer }} '''Stefan Avalos''' is an American filmmaker, musician, and journalist, best known for his work in film. Together with Lance Weiler, he made ''The Last Broadcast'' (1997), a horror film based on found footage. The two men wrote, directed, starred in, and produced the film together. It was shown at film festivals, winning the Best Feature Film Silver Prize at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.<ref>{{cite web|title=Festival Roundup|url=http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/fall1998/fests/chicago.php|work=Filmmaker magazine|accessdate=August 4, 2015}}</ref>

Trained as a classical violinist, Avalos performed as a soloist with, among others, the Philadelphia Orchestra.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/174437801/?terms=%22stefan%20avalos%22&match=1 | title=The Philadelphia Inquirer 25 Feb 1979, page Page 101 }}</ref>

==Biography== Avalos studied classical violin from childhood, but by early high school, he realized his true love was film. He made amateur movies in high school and studied filmmaking in college.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.videomaker.com/article/f13/3062-the-last-broadcast-is-a-first-the-making-of-a-digital-feature/ | title=The Last Broadcast is a First: The Making of a Digital Feature | date=November 1997 }}</ref>

He has worked in many aspects of the film business, producing and directing commercials for foreign television, as well as working for numerous American clients. These included ''Rescue 911'', ''Frontline'', and MTV. In 1993, he wrote, produced, and directed his first feature film, 'The Game' (also known as ''The Money Game'').

Together with Lance Weiler, he made ''The Last Broadcast'' (1997), a horror film based on found footage. Later, partnering with Esther Robinson and David Beard, Avalos created Wavelength Releasing. In October 1998, Wavelength Releasing made the first fully digital national theatrical release of a feature film via satellite: ''The Last Broadcast''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hernandez|first1=Eugene|title=Wavelength Teams with IFC for Historic "Broadcast"|url=https://www.indiewire.com/article/wavelength_teams_with_ifc_for_historic_broadcast|website=Indiewire|date=September 23, 1998 |publisher=indiewire.com|accessdate=August 4, 2015}}</ref>

In 1999, ''The Last Broadcast'' was the first feature motion film to be screened digitally at the Cannes Film Festival.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Graser|first1=Marc|title=Cannes does digital|url=https://variety.com/1999/more/news/cannes-does-digital-1117499420/|website=Variety|date=April 29, 1999 |publisher=Variety Media, LLC|accessdate=}}</ref>

Avalos has lectured in Europe, the United States, South America, Japan, and Canada about digital filmmaking, and written articles about it for numerous publications.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.moviemaker.com/author/stefan_avalos/ | title=Stefan Avalos, Author at MovieMaker Magazine }}</ref>

In 2004, Avalos made the supernatural thriller, ''The Ghosts of Edendale''. Other work includes animation for ''Lost in La Mancha'' (2002), a documentary directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe.

In 2007, Avalos was instrumental in investigating and breaking the story about "foreign levies" not being disbursed by the DGA and WGA to filmmakers for FADE IN MAGAZINE.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/2828-the-writing-on-the-wall/#.YrZaAS2ZOL4 | title=THE WRITING ON THE WALL &#124; Filmmaker Magazine | date=May 13, 2007 }}</ref> He later became a representative for independent writers in the settlement case against the WGA.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/2010/film/news/avalos-eisenson-to-intervene-in-wga-case-1118014914/ | title=Avalos, Eisenson to intervene in WGA case | date=February 9, 2010 }}</ref>

In 2012, Avalos was the exclusive documentarian<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/musical-surprise-virtuosos-prefer-new-violins-blind-test-n74141 | title=Musical Surprise: Virtuosos Prefer New Violins in Blind Test | website=NBC News | date=April 7, 2014 }}</ref> for the "Paris Double Blind"<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.science.org/content/article/million-dollar-strads-fall-modern-violins-blind-sound-check | title=Million-dollar Strads fall to modern violins in blind 'sound check' }}</ref> experiment.

In 2017, Avalos directed, produced, edited, and shot the feature documentary, ''Strad Style''. It follows the work of an Ohio man in trying to build a Stradivarius-quality violin for a highly ranked Romanian violinist.<ref>[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/strad-style-1001257 John DeFore, "Review: 'Strad Style'"], ''Hollywood Reporter'', May 8, 2017</ref> It premiered at Slamdance Film Festival. It won the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Patten|first1=Dominic|title='Strad Style' Docu Wins Slamdance Grand Jury & Audience Awards|url=https://deadline.com/2017/01/slamdance-awards-winners-strad-style-dave-made-a-maze-sundance-1201895657/|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=January 27, 2017 |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC|accessdate=April 24, 2018}}</ref>

In 2018, Avalos was invited to join Array inc. as Director At Large in a series of experiments demonstrating and developing emergent A.I. technology for motion picture and television special effects.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/technology/artificial-intelligence-hollywood.html | title=Lights, Camera, Artificial Action: Start-Up is Taking A.I. To the Movies | newspaper=The New York Times | date=March 26, 2018 | last1=Metz | first1=Cade }}</ref>

In 2019, Avalos began development<ref>{{cite web | url=https://uk.style.yahoo.com/style/film-news-roundup-25th-anniversary-020218626.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA2MYkP0NbZNCd5JmBNS5swBjFxn-OoSyTwVRTqEx0v3JA9ZGWNTQ8DFUXx567qrhVvEanLeGgkwoomaCbVzdYlO6z0OfPQ79g9fGrT2sou0ES1p3ARLZsJeeQaDCmUyx-cmyg1H4DZFRo6giZPQ9D4UdhipPZm6EfPE1n21emDP | title=Film News Roundup: 25th Anniversary Showings of 'Friends' Generate $2.9 Million | date=October 4, 2019 }}</ref> on ATM BOY, a story discovered by Australian Crime Journalist Adam Shand''.''

==Honors== Stefan Avalos was recognized in 1997 as "one of the twenty-five people helping to reinvent entertainment" by ''Wired'' magazine.<ref>James Daly, ed.,[https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.11/hollywood_pr.html "Hollywood 2.0"], ''Wired'', 5.11, November 1997 <!--accessed October 13, 2009--> </ref>

Stefan Avalos was nominated for the Maysles Award at the Denver Film Festival in 2017.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://303magazine.com/2017/11/films-won-awards-40th-denver-film-festival/ | title=Here Are the Films That Won Awards at the 40th Denver Film Festival | date=November 14, 2017 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avalos, Stefan}} Category:American male violinists Category:Film directors from Pennsylvania Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:21st-century American violinists Category:21st-century American male musicians