Inspire Entertainment Signs Rudy Valdez, Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Behind ‘Choir’ & ‘Carlos’

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Rudy Valdez (The Sentence) has signed with Inspire Entertainment for management.

Most recently, Valdez served as director, EP and cinematographer of the six-part docuseries Choir for Disney+, as well as Carlos, the Carlos Santana doc from Sony Pictures Classics and Imagine Documentaries. Both films were official selections of the 2023 Tribeca Festival, with Carlos earning a 2023 Critics’ Choice Documentary Award nomination for Best Music Documentary.

Valdez’s documentary short Translators, produced in partnership with U.S. Bank, also recently debuted as an official selection of LALIFF and the Tribeca Festival, winning the Tribeca X Award for Best Short Documentary.

The filmmaker’s breakthrough project was The Sentence, the HBO doc marking his directorial debut. Shot over the course of a decade, the film watches as Valdez unpacks the aftermath of his sister Cindy’s 15-year sentence for conspiracy charges related to crimes committed by her deceased ex-boyfriend. Following its world premiere at Sundance 2018, where it won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award, the doc went on to win an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, also securing Valdez a nomination for Best New Director at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.

Valdez is at the helm of Bluff Road Films, an independent production company focused on creating meaningful social, cultural, and political stories while championing equity both on screen and behind the camera. Currently, the company is teaming with Inspire to produce the feature doc Places, centered on Pacific Northwest artist Ben Joyce and his personal journey to expand his horizons of art, people, and family. In addition to directing, Valdez is producing the pic alongside Jason Spire and Meghan Schale.

Founded in 2002, Inspire Entertainment is also known for its work on the hit Netflix pic Outside the Wire and Peacock/Sony’s video game adaptation Twisted Metal, which is currently prepping to shoot its second season, among other projects.

Valdez continues to be represented by CAA.