San Angelo Filmmaker Among 2025 West Texas Walk of Fame Inductees

SAN ANGELO, TX — Award-winning documentary filmmaker Hector Galán of San Angelo has been named one of four inductees into the West Texas Walk of Fame for 2025, Civic Lubbock, Inc. announced Monday.

Galán, whose career spans nearly four decades, has produced and directed more than 40 hours of nationally broadcast PBS programming, including episodes of “FRONTLINE,” the landmark series “Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement,” and the recent documentary “Our Texas, Our Vote.” He was the first documentary filmmaker inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame and has earned multiple accolades for exploring Latino experiences and American history through film.

"I'm hoping to keep creating new films for the younger people that didn't have any idea of what we went through, so they can learn from that and be proud of it," he said. 

Hector has been recognized nationally and internationally for his work, including being named in the top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America by Hispanic Business Magazine in 1997, the 2005 Distinguished Filmmaker Award at the Cine Cuauhtemoc Pan American Film Festival and his induction into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2017.

Joining Galán in the 2025 class are country and Americana band Flatland Cavalry and visual artists James W. Johnson and Jerry Jordan. An induction ceremony is set for Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Theatre.

Flatland Cavalry, formed in Lubbock in 2012, has gained national attention with chart-topping singles and music featured on shows like “Yellowstone.” Johnson, originally from New York, has created over 80,000 hours of diverse artwork since relocating to Lubbock in 1978. Jordan, born in Lubbock, built a career as a painter and musician, with his work included in permanent collections across Texas and New Mexico.

The West Texas Walk of Fame honors individuals with significant ties to Lubbock and West Texas whose artistic contributions have achieved national influence. Past honorees include Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, and Mac Davis.

Below is an excerpt regarding Galan from a press release: 

Hector Galán, an independent Documentary Filmmaker from San Angelo, Texas, is one of the most prolific and passionate working in his field today. Beginning his career at 18 straight out of High School, Hector worked as a camera operator for his local TV Station in San Angelo. From here Hector attended community college studying media production in Killeen, TX, where he met Dr. Dennis Harp who encouraged him to join him in Lubbock where he was starting a new Mass Communications program at Texas Tech University. Hector worked tirelessly for KCBD News Channel 11, where he directed both the 6pm and 10pm news. Upon his graduation he was hired by KTXT as a producer and began producing original programming. Hector was becoming a hot commodity; he was recruited to Austin to produce a national PBS series which would become his springboard into his documentary television career that resulted in him producing episodes of the provocative television series Frontline. In 1984 he returned to Texas and established his own production company, Galán, Inc where he continued to work, producing over 40 hours of national PBS programming, including the landmark four-part series Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. Hector has been recognized nationally and internationally for his work, including being named in the top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America by Hispanic Business Magazine in 1997, the 2005 Distinguished Filmmaker Award at the Cine Cuauhtemoc Pan American Film Festival and his induction into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2017. Despite decades of tireless work, Hector continues to produce important documentaries and films, charting the Latino experience in America, and in his own words explains "I'm hoping to keep creating new films for the younger people that didn't have any idea of what we went through, so they can learn from that and be proud of it."

You can find Galan's website HERE.