Emilio Miguel Torres is an award-winning Puerto Rican-Mexican American filmmaker based in Phoenix, Arizona. An NYU Tisch School of the Arts film school graduate, he has written and directed multiple short films that have screened in over 35 international film festivals, earning honors such as the First Prize Kalborg Award at the New Visions and Voices Film Festival, the Critics' Choice Award at the Sci-On Film Festival, and Best Film at the Apex Film Festival. His debut feature film, The Ladder is a sci-fi, drama film about aging, technology, and family shot in his hometown of Ketchikan, Alaska. This fiercely independent, community-driven project is currently on the festival circuit, with selections at the Fargo Film Festival, Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival, Wyoming International Film Festival, and the OKCine Latino Film Festival, where it won Best First Feature Film and Best Editing. After screening at the Phoenix Film Festival as part of the U.S. Feature Competition, Torres took home the Copper Wing Award for 2025 Arizona Filmmaker of the Year.