Issa López


Issa López is a Mexican writer and director. López has won several literary awards, including the 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 and Casi Divas. 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 ranked fifth, Niñas Mal 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 In October 2013, the romantic comedy Pulling Strings, with a script co-written by López, opened in the U.S. With only 387 copies, it ranked as number 10 in the U.S. Box Office. The film opened as No. 1 in the Mexican box office, and ranked No. 2 Mexican movie in the Mexican box-office for 2014.
In April 2015 A la Mala, with an original script co-written by her, opened in the US and in Mexico, where it ranked in the yearly overall as No.10, considering all productions, including American and international.
Also in 2015, 600 Millas, a film produced in 2014 with an script co-written by López, won the Best First Feature Award at Berlin Film Festival, and Best Movie at Guadalajara Film Festival. In 2016, the Script for 600 Millas
In September 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid 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. López was the first woman ever to receive the award.
By February 2020, Tigers has collected a total of fifty awards in Film Festivals around the world, :es:Anexo:Diosas de plata 2018|three Diosas de Plata, including Best Picture and Best Director, and has received :es:LX edición de los Premios Ariel|10 nominations for the Ariel,, of which it won two, has earned a large amount of positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a rating of 97% in Rotten Tomatoes; the aggregator has given its "Certified Fresh" stamp to the movie. It also got a Best Latin American Director Award in 2019 from NALIP and Fangoria Magazine, specialized in Horror Cinema, awarded it Best Foreign Language Movie in 2020. , Neil Gaiman and have manifested their enthusiasm for the movie via social media and interviews.
Guillermo del Toro announced that , , set at Searchlight Pictures. , , and Searchlight Pictures signed her to , a film based in the short story Lost Souls, by Matthew Baker, to be produced by Noah Hawley.

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 to train for creative writing for TV, film, radio and theatre.
In the academia, she has been a lecturer on Film Semiotics and Film and Architecture for the Metropolitan University and the National University.
In 1995, she was selected as part of the jury for the 1995 Efraín Huerta Award.
From 1997 to 2000, she was Screenwriting professor at the Writing Studies Center of Televisa, from which she graduated.
She has written and directed many different TV shows for Mexican television, such as Plaza Sésamo. She co-wrote two telenovelas and two comedy shows.
In 2003 she wrote the feature film Ladies' Night. The movie became the biggest grossing Mexican film of 2003 and 2004, and became the 5th biggest grossing Mexican film over all. In 1995, it won Best Screenplay Award at the Cyprus International Film Festival. Ladies' Night was the first Mexican movie produced by a Hollywood major studio.
In 2005, Issa was selected as one of the 50 Latino Impact Players in Entertainment, by Variety.
In 2006 Efectos secundarios, her first feature as a writer-director, opened to become the 2nd highest grossing Mexican film of the year. After its run, it ranked number 15th among the top grossing Mexican films of all times. Efectos secundarios received 12 nominations for the Diosa de Plata Award, including Best Director and Best Picture, and two nominations for the Ariel. It received a Diosa de Plata award for Best Screenplay. Efectos Secundarios was the first movie produced by Warner Bros. in Mexico.
In 2007 the teen-comedy Niñas Mal, written by Lopez, was the 4th biggest opening ever for a Mexican film, and ranked as the 7th biggest grossing Mexican film over all. Niñas Mal was the first movie developed and produced by Columbia Pictures in Mexico.
In 2008, López wrote and directed Columbia Pictures’ second Mexican feature, Casi Divas. The film opened at number one in the box office, and was among the top 3 Mexican films released that year. Casi Divas is the first and only Mexican film scored by Academy Award Winner Hans Zimmer. The film won as Best Screenplay at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, and received an Outstanding Achievement in Acting award for its lead actress, in a roll that also received a best supporting actress nomination from the Latino Imagen awards. Additionally, the movie was nominated for Outstanding Film for the GLAAD awards. Casi Divas opened in the U.S. in August 2009, and received rave reviews from Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and Los Angeles Times, among other publications.
In 2010, she was selected to be on the Jury panel for the .
In October 2013, the romantic comedy Pulling Strings, with a script co-adapted by López, opened in the U.S. With only 387 copies, it ranks as number 10 in the Box Office. It opened at No. 1 in the Mexican box office.
In April 2015 A la Mala, with an original script co-written by her, opened in the US and in Mexico, , considering all productions, including American and international.
Also in 2015, 600 Millas, a film produced in 2014 with an script co-written by López, won the Best First Feature Award at Berlin Film Festival, and Best Movie at Guadalajara Film Festival. In 2016, the Script for 600 Millas
In September 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid has its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. The film is an hyper-real, dark fairy tale, centered on the survival of a gang of children orphaned by the drug-war in Mexico, but told from the magical-realism tinted point of view of the children themselves. López wrote, directed and was Executive Producer of the movie, . López became the first woman ever to receive the honor, and also the first Mexican.
The movie went on to receive an extensive collection of rave reviews, . Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Guillermo Del Toro have expressed their enthusiasm for Tigers Are Not Afraid.
By December 2018, Tigers Are Not Afraid has received a total of fifty awards in festivals around the world:
Fantastic Fest, Austin, Texas: Best Horror Director.
Dedfest, Alberta, Canada: Audience Award for Best Picture.
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Celluloid Screams, Sheffield UK: Best Movie Audience Award.
Cine Mexico Now, Detroit: Best Feature Audience Award.
Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival, Canada: Audience Choice Award, Horror, Gold.
Additionally, 'Tigers' has received the following awards and nominations by the Mexican Film Academy, the Mexican Film Critics Association, the US Latino Entertainment Journalists Association, and the National Latino Independent Producers:
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In the first trimester of 2018, López opened two comedies in Mexico: La Boda de Valentina, and Todo Mal, written, directed and produced by her. Valentina went on to become a blockbuster, selling close to three million tickets, and Todo Mal sold close to one million.
Currently, , A ,

Selected filmography

YearProjectTypeCastDetails
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 FilmMarina de Tavira, Alejandra Gollás, Arturo BarbaWriter, Director, Associate Producer
2007Niñas mal FilmMartha Higareda, Camila Sodi, Blanca GuerraWriter
2008Casi DivasFilmPatricia Llaca, Julio Bracho, Maya ZapataWriter, Director
2010Sucedió en un día Short filmGustavo Sánchez Parra, Luis Gerardo MéndezWriter, Director
2012Viaje de GeneraciónFilmDanny Perea, Esmeralda PimentelWriter
2013Pulling StingsFilmJaime Camil, Laura Ramsey, Stockard Channing, Tom ArnoldWriter
2015A la MalaFilmAislinn Derbez, Mauricio OchmannWriter
2015600 MillasFilmTim Roth, Kristyan FerrerWriter
2017FilmPaola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Tenoch Huerta, Ianis GuerreroWriter, Director, Executive Producer
2018La Boda de Valentina FilmOmar Chaparro, Marimar Vega, Ryan Carnes.Writer, Executive Producer
2018Todo MalFilmOsvaldo Benavides, Martín Altomaro, Alfonso Dosal, Marcela GuiradoWriter, Director, Producer

Awards

Fiction Writer awards
Movie awards