Drawn to big ideas and bold storytelling to engage today's most pressing cultural conversations.

Diego Nájera is a producer with more than a decade of experience in story development, film financing, and programming, and the founder of Artefacto Cinema. Previously, he served as Director of Narrative Film at Participant — the award-winning studio that pioneered storytelling for positive social impact — where he developed, oversaw, or acquired feature films by Mounia Akl, Christopher Zalla, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Marc Forster, and Academy Award winner Sebastián Lelio.

Prior to Participant, he produced the Academy Award–nominated live-action short Please Hold, from director KD Dávila. He began his career as a producer and film programmer at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, then worked in the U.S. film-financing division of Alex García's AG Studios. His projects have been featured at the Berlinale, SXSW, FICG, Fantastic Fest, AFI Fest, and on HBO.

A frequent voice on the international festival circuit, he has spoken at SXSW, San Sebastián, Cannes' Producers Network, Los Cabos, and Shortfest. He holds an MFA from USC's Peter Stark Producing Program and lives in Los Angeles.