Perez was the recipient of the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation/Tribeca Film Institute EmergingArtist Fellowship in support of his feature screenplay IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. Perez’ shortfilm BETTY LA FLACA was the winner of the HBO/NYILFF Short Film Award and was broadcastacross the HBO networks. Perez previous short film JULIETA Y RAMON was broadcast as partof the Showtime Latino Filmmaker Showcase, which spotlights the work of emerging Latinodirectors. Perez’ short film SEED was part of ITVS/PBS groundbreaking original online sciencefiction series FutureStates. Perez has studied storytelling with Gabriel Garcia Marquez,collaborated with Pulitzer prize-winning novelist William Kennedy, and served as a guest artist foracclaimed theater director and artist Robert Wilson. His writing has been featured in the NewYork Times Magazine and Salon, and his films have screened at venues such as MoMA and theSmithsonian.Perez was the recipient of the 2009 Estela Award for Documentary Filmmaking presented byNALIP – the National Association of Latino Independent Producers.

Perez is Producer andDirector of NEITHER MEMORY NOR MAGIC a feature documentary that explores the life, work,and legacy of the Hungarian poet Miklos Radnoti who died in 1944 during the Holocaust. Thefilm is narrated by the Academy-Award Nominated® Patricia Clarkson and celebrated actor ViggoMortensen. NEITHER MEMORY NOR MAGIC is the recipient of a 2010 NEH Chairman’s Grant.Perez is also the Producer and Director of the ITVS funded documentary SUMMER SUNWINTER MOON that had a national PBS broadcast. Perez recently served as ExecutiveProducer of Rodrigo Reyes feature documentary PURGATORIO – a poetic and philosophicaljourney along the U.S. border with Mexico that was the recipient of a post-production grant fromIMCINE, the Mexican Ministry of Film. Perez also served as Executive Producer of David FelixSutcliffe’s documentary ADAMA that aired on PBS World in Fall 2011. He is currently directingthe feature documentary OMARA: THE LAST DIVA, and co-directing the feature documentaryLIGHTS CAMERA UGANDA with Cathryne Czubek. Perez produced the national PBS specialWEEKEND IN HAVANA, which aired in summer of 2017.

Perez has worked extensively as an Editor and Producer with VICE Magazine’s online mediaportals Vice.com and Motherboard.TV on a variety of branded content projects for clients such asLevis, Lexus, Converse, and many others. Perez was a co-producer and writer on “Dance Cuba:Dreams of Flight,” a feature documentary that reflects on life in contemporary Cuba through theexperiences of ballerinas and others involved in the Cuban ballet world. In conjunction with TheNew York State Writer’s Institute, WMHT/Albany, and Pulitzer prize-winning novelist WilliamKennedy, he produced and directed “The Writer” a half hour series of video portraits ofcontemporary writers and poets that aired regionally on PBS stations. Between 1997 and 2001,Perez produced forty-eight episodes of “The Writer,”, spotlighting such writers as Russell Banks,Frank McCourt, Jamaica Kincaid, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, David Sedaris, KenKesey, Studs Terkel, Chinua Achebe, Andrea Barrett, George Plimpton, and many others. Perezcurrently serves on the board for the New York Council for the Humanities.Perez is the host of “After Hours with Hugo Perez” – an ongoing series of lectures, panels, andconversations in New York City with writers, filmmakers, historians, and philosophers onHumanities themed topics. He is also the frequent guest host of the celebrated Stranger ThanFiction documentary series at New York City’s IFC Center. Perez is currently a cultural envoy forthe U.S. State Department’s American Film Showcase program.