My name is Sebastian Manuel Del Valle Alfonzo Manzo. I’m a filmmaker, arts organizer, and oral historian. I also enjoy making photographs, interviewing, and writing stories.

In 2004, I immigrated from Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, to Saint Paul, Minnesota, with my parents. I grew up in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood and graduated from Saint Paul Public Schools. I received my BA in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature and Studies in Cinema and Media Culture from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in 2021. Currently, I am the program manager for Serpentina Arts, a communicator at the University of Minnesota, and a freelance filmmaker.

Most of my filmmaking exists in the realm of documentary, though I also enjoy working in narrative and moving images. In 2021, I worked on the PBS Frontline film Police on Trial. For this film, I recorded the entirety of the Chauvin Trial, assisted with interviews, supported the building of the film’s archive, and even edited scripts. In 2024, I partnered with Art From The Inside to create the documentary Justice Reformed, which explores how art empowers incarcerated individuals to reclaim their humanity and catalyze personal transformation. I’ve shared films and photographs at theaters and galleries across the Twin Cities, including at The Parkway Theater, Northeast Sculpture Gallery Factory, the University of Minnesota’s Regis Center for the Arts Quarter Gallery, and Public Functionary.

I’m the program manager for Serpentina Arts (SA), a collective that fosters creativity and professional development for MN Latinx visual artists. In this role, I work to create and share opportunities, build community connections, and document the work of our diverse community of artists. Before Serpentina Arts, I worked at Minnesota Transform (MNT), a major higher education initiative that engaged in anti-colonial and racial justice work through the public humanities. At MNT, I leveraged my media, communications, and archivals experience to support a variety of community and University initiatives.

Through filmmaking and organizing, I became acquainted with oral history. In 2023, I created the Photography Narratives of MN Latinx Immigrants, a Liberal Arts Engagement Hub residency project that documented the stories behind 11 photographs by Latinx immigrant artists working in MN. This project was later showcased as the exhibition Viewfinders, which I co-curated with Maria Cristina Tavera and Jessica Lopez Lyman at the Regis Center for the Arts Quarter Gallery. I’m currently documenting oral histories from former members of the Northland Poster Collective, a now-defunct print collective on Lake Street that served communities with political posters for four decades.

If you would like to connect or collaborate, please email me at sebastianalfonzomanzo@gmail.com or send me a message on Instagram: instagram: @alfonzomanzo.