Photo courtesy of  Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse Getty Images

Natalia Almada, A'89, who graduated from the Sheridan Road elementary school in 1989, is among 23 who have been selected by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to receive "genius" grants. These grants provide each of them a $500,000 award paid over five years.

Natalia Almada was born in Sinaola, Mexico, to a Mexican father and an American mother, grew up in Chicago, and now maintains residences in both Brooklyn and Mexico City. It is this dual citizenship that best informs her work.

Her directing credits include All Water Has A Perfect Memory, an internationally recognized experimental short, and Al Otro Lado, an award-winning feature documentary about immigration and drug trafficking. Almada’s work has screened at Sundance, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Biennial as well as on ARTE and PBS. She is a 2008 Guggenheim fellow and has received support from Creative Capital, the Sundance Institute, and the MacDowell Colony, among others.  

Sacred Heart teacher Lynn Patterson said, "I only taught Natalia my first year here when she was in 8th grade. I remember her as a very intelligent, hardworking student and an incredibly polite and pleasant person."