Issa López

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.

Issa López
Born
Issa Laura López

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

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. 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.

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.

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, Neil Gaiman and Guillermo Del Toro have manifested their enthusiasm for the movie via social media and interviews.

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

Selected filmography
Year Project Type Cast Details
1994Tan callandoShort filmGerardina Martínez, Carmina MartínezWriter, Director
2000Primer amor... a mil por horaTelenovelaKuno Becker, AnahíWriter
2003Ladies' NightFilmAna Claudia Talancón, Ana de la Reguera, Luis Roberto GuzmánWriter
2006Efectos secundarios (Side Effects)FilmMarina de Tavira, Alejandra Gollás, Arturo BarbaWriter, Director, Associate Producer
2007Niñas mal (Charm School)FilmMartha Higareda, Camila Sodi, Blanca GuerraWriter
2008Casi DivasFilmPatricia Llaca, Julio Bracho, Maya ZapataWriter, Director
2010Sucedió en un día (Segment "Siete")Short filmGustavo Sánchez Parra, Luis Gerardo MéndezWriter, Director
2012Viaje de GeneraciónFilmDanny Perea, Esmeralda PimentelWriter
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

[3][4][5] [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][2]

  1. "" Best Screenplay Award for Ladies' Night, CYIIF, 2006, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  2. ""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
  3. ""Issa López National novel award, Accessed 5 Nov 2013
  4. "" Music Hans Zimmer for Casi Divas, Variety, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  5. "" Arieled Members of Mexican Motion Picture Academy, 1994, Accessed Nov 7 2013.
  6. "" Rotten Tomatoes rating and info, Rotten Tomatoes, 2013, Accessed Nov 7 2013
  7. "" Best Screenplay Award for Ladies' Night, CYIIF, 2006, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  8. " Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine" Ladies Night, Miravista Films, 2003, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  9. "" Casi Divas review by Variety, 2009, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  10. " Casi Divas Review by Los Angeles Time, 2009, Accessed nov 5 2013
  11. "" Efectos Secundarios, Warner Bros., 2006, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  12. "" Charm School, Sony Pictures, 2007, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  13. ""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
  14. "" Efectos Secundarios, Awards on IMDb, Accessed Nov 5 2013
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