Issa López

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Issa López
Issa López.png
Born
Issa Laura López

Mexico City, Mexico
OccupationFilm director, screenwriter, producer
Years active1994–present

Issa López is a Mexican film director, writer and producer. Eleven Spanish language features have been produced from her scripts, four of them directed by herself. She has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature in 2007.[1]

In 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish) premiered at Fantastic Fest, in Austin Texas. Written and directed by López, the film received the Best Horror Director Award, and went on to collect fifty-one awards in film festivals around the world, three Diosas de Plata (the Mexican equivalent of the Golden Globes), including Best Picture and Best Director, and received 10 nominations for the Ariel, (the Mexican Film Academy Award), of which it won two. The film earned multiple positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a "Certified Fresh" rating of 97% in Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently, López is developing projects with Guillermo Del Toro, Noah Hawley and Jason Blum.

Life and career[]

Issa López was born and raised in Mexico City. After two years of Archeology Studies, she changed her major, and obtained a BA in Film Directing and Screenwriting from Mexico's National University. After her BA, she completed a two-year graduate program for dramatic writing.

López has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.[1] In addition to her literary work, she penned multiple TV shows, some of them reaching the highest audience ratings in Mexican prime-time TV, and wrote the scripts for several film features, three of them produced in Mexico by the Major Hollywood Studios, and two of those directed by herself; Efectos Secundarios (Warner Bros., 2006) and Casi Divas (Sony Pictures, 2008). In 2015, López shot her third feature as a director, and tenth as a writer, Tigers Are Not Afraid. Tigers premiered in September 2017 at Fantastic Fest. In March 2018, Todo Mal, her fourth feature film as a director, 11th as a writer, opened in Mexico.

In 2005, López was selected as one of the 50 Latino Impact Players in Entertainment, by Variety.

In Mexico, López’ movies have ranked among the highest grossing local productions: Ladies' Night (Disney, 2003) ranked fifth, Niñas Mal (Sony Pictures, 2007) seventh, and Efectos Secundarios fifteenth. Casi Divas opened in first place in the box office and went on to a limited theatrical run in the U.S.

Casi Divas received enthusiastic reviews from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and the L.A. Times, among others. The film is the only Mexican movie to be scored by acclaimed Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, who only charged $1 for his extensive work on the film.[2]

In 2015, 600 Millas, a film with a script co-written by López, was nominated for the Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award for Best Script.[3]

In September 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish) Premiered at Fantastic Fest, in Austin Texas, and received the Best Horror Director Award. Issa López directed, wrote, and was Executive Producer of the film, a dark fable about the children surviving the Mexican drug war, and the ghosts that haunt them.

Tigers Are Not Afraid collected a total of fifty-one awards in Film Festivals around the world, three Diosas de Plata (the Mexican equivalent of the Golden Globes), including Best Picture and Best Director, and has received 10 nominations for the Ariel, (the Mexican Film Academy Award), of which it won two, has earned a large amount of positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a "Certified Fresh" rating of 97% in Rotten Tomatoes. It also got a Best Latin American Director Award in 2019 from NALIP (National Association of Latino Producers) and Fangoria Magazine, specialized in Horror Cinema, awarded it Best Foreign Language Movie in 2020. Stephen King,[4] Neil Gaiman and Guillermo Del Toro manifested their enthusiasm for the movie via social media and interviews.[5]

Currently, López is working with Guillermo del Toro, who announced that he'd produce Lopez' next film,[6] a haunted western about the werewolf mythology,[7] Searchlight Pictures signed her to write and direct The Book of Souls,[8] to be produced by Noah Hawley, and Blumhouse is developing Our Lady of Tears,[9] written and directed by López.

Selected filmography[]

Year Project Type Cast Details
1994 Tan callando Short film Gerardina Martínez, Carmina Martínez Writer, Director
2000 Primer amor... a mil por hora Telenovela Kuno Becker, Anahí Writer
2003 Ladies' Night Film Ana Claudia Talancón, Ana de la Reguera, Luis Roberto Guzmán Writer
2006 Efectos secundarios (Side Effects) Film Marina de Tavira, Alejandra Gollás, Arturo Barba Writer, Director, Associate Producer
2007 Niñas mal (Charm School) Film Martha Higareda, Camila Sodi, Blanca Guerra Writer
2008 Film Patricia Llaca, Julio Bracho, Maya Zapata Writer, Director
2010 Sucedió en un día (Segment "Siete") Short film Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Luis Gerardo Méndez Writer, Director
2012 Viaje de Generación Film Danny Perea, Esmeralda Pimentel Writer
2013 Pulling Stings Film Jaime Camil, Laura Ramsey, Stockard Channing, Tom Arnold Writer
2015 A la Mala Film Aislinn Derbez, Mauricio Ochmann Writer
2015 600 Millas Film Tim Roth, Kristyan Ferrer Writer
2017 Tigers Are Not Afraid Film Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Tenoch Huerta, Ianis Guerrero Writer, Director, Executive Producer
2018 La Boda de Valentina (Valentina's Wedding) Film Omar Chaparro, Marimar Vega, Ryan Carnes. Writer, Executive Producer
2018 Todo Mal Film Osvaldo Benavides, Martín Altomaro, Alfonso Dosal, Marcela Guirado Writer, Director, Producer

Awards[]

Fiction Writer awards

  • Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts Novel Award, 2007.
  • Efraín Huerta Short Story Award, 1995.
  • Punto de Partida Short Story Award, 1995
  • Alica Short Story Award, 1994.
  • Finalist, Ricardo Pozas Short Story Award, 1996.
  • Finalist, Efren Hernández Short Story Award, 1994.
  • Finalist, New Writers Plaza y Valdes Award, 1992.

Movie awards

References[]

[12][13][14][15][10][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][11]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Premio Bellas Artes de Novela José Rubén Romero". literatura.inba.gob.mx. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  2. ^ de la Fuente, Anna Marie (2008-01-19). "Hans Zimmer opens heart for 'Divas'". Variety. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  3. ^ http://www.premioariel.com.mx/images/Franjas/NominadosPorPelicula.pdf
  4. ^ "https://twitter.com/stephenking/status/917924578772611072". Twitter (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-11. External link in |title= (help)
  5. ^ "https://twitter.com/realgdt/status/925936863508029440". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-05-11. External link in |title= (help)
  6. ^ de la Fuente, Anna Marie (2018-03-13). "Guillermo del Toro to Produce Issa Lopez, Karla Castaneda's Next Films (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  7. ^ Topel, Fred (2019-03-29). "Guillermo del Toro Teases Upcoming Horror Projects With Jennifer Kent and Issa Lopez". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  8. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (2020-01-22). "Issa López To Write/Direct Searchlight Adaptation Of Matthew Baker Short 'Lost Souls;' Noah Hawley Producing". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  9. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (2020-05-20). "Blumhouse Developing 'Our Lady Of Tears' With Issa López Adapting & Directing". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b "[1]" Best Screenplay Award for Ladies' Night, CYIIF, 2006, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b ""Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)" Casi Divas Best Screenplay Award at Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, 2008, Accessed Nov 7 2013
  12. ^ "[2]"Issa López National novel award, Accessed 5 Nov 2013
  13. ^ "[3]" Music Hans Zimmer for Casi Divas, Variety, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  14. ^ "" Arieled Members of Mexican Motion Picture Academy, 1994, Accessed Nov 7 2013.
  15. ^ "" Rotten Tomatoes rating and info, Rotten Tomatoes, 2013, Accessed Nov 7 2013
  16. ^ "[4] Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine" Ladies Night, Miravista Films, 2003, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  17. ^ "[5]" Casi Divas review by Variety, 2009, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  18. ^ "[6] Casi Divas Review by Los Angeles Time, 2009, Accessed nov 5 2013
  19. ^ "[7]" Efectos Secundarios, Warner Bros., 2006, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  20. ^ "[8]" Charm School, Sony Pictures, 2007, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  21. ^ ""Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)" Best Screenplay Award, Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, 2008, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  22. ^ "[9]" Efectos Secundarios, Awards on IMDb, Accessed Nov 5 2013

External links[]

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