Issa López

Issa López is a Mexican writer and director. López has won several literature 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. As of June 2016, she's finishing post-production of the movie, and starting pre-production of 'Moctezuma & Me', her fourth feature film as a director, 11th as a writer.

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 open theatrically in the U.S, distributed by Maya Entertainment.

Casi Divas received very positive reviews from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and the L.A. Times, among other critics. 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 October 2013, the romantic comedy Pulling Strings, with a script co-adapted by López, opened in the U.S. With only 387 copies, it ranked as number 10 in the U.S. Box Office. The film averaged an “87% audience likes it” grade in Rotten Tomatoes.^[3]It opened as No. 1 in 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 was nominated for the Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award.

Life and career

Issa López was born and raised in Mexico City. After two years of Archeology Studies, she changed her major, and in 1995 obtained a BA in Film Directing and Screenwriting from Mexico’s National University. One of her student short films, Tan Callando, was selected to represent the National University at the Mexican Motion Picture Academy Awards (Ariel), under the Best Short Film category. After obtaining her BA in Filmmaking in 1995 she completed a two-year graduate program created by Televisa (the biggest broadcasting network in the Spanish speaking world) in 1996, to train for TV, film, radio and playwriting. While in the program, a play by her, Parábola del Espárrago y la Mala Amiga, was selected to represent the school at the Metropolitan University’s Theater Festival.

López has been a lecturer in several seminaries on Film Semiotics and Film and Architecture at the Metropolitan University and the National University, and she has published several essays on the subjects.

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 at Televisa, such as Plaza Sésamo (the Latin American version Sesame Street). She co-wrote two widely successful telenovelas, both of them ranking as the number one rated show in Mexico throughout their run.

In 2003 she wrote the feature film Ladies' Night.^[4] 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.^[5] Ladies' Night was the first Mexican movie produced by a Hollywood major studio (Disney).

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

In 2006 Efectos secundarios,^[6] 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 (the Mexican Film Press Award), including Best Director and Best Picture, and two nominations for the Ariel (the Mexican Motion Pictures Academy Award).^[7] 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,^[8] 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, Issa 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,^[9] 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 (limited release) 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.^[10][11] In 2009, Issa was selected as one of 10 notable Mexican directors to helm a short for Rally Malayerba. The short film (Siete) was shot, edited and delivered in 24 hours, and, together with the rest of the 10 shorts, was part of the official selection at the Guadalajara International Film Festival (the foremost Latin American film festival in the world).

In 2010, she was selected to be on the Jury panel for the San Diego Latino Film Festival.

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. The film averages an “87% audience likes it” grade in Rotten Tomatoes.^[3]It opened as No. 1 in Mexican box office.

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 was nominated for the Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award.

López is currently finishing the post-production of her third feature as a director, ninth as a writer, Los Tigres No Tienen Miedo ('Tigers Are Not Afraid'). 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 is also preparing to shoot Moctezuma & Me, with a script by herself. Moctezuma & Me is a bitter-sweet comedy about what it really means to be a man in today's Mexico; in October 2015 she received the Eficine Film Grant to finance the project. Principal photography will begin in October 2016.

Selected Filmography

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

• Cyprus International Film Festival Best screenplay Award for Ladie’s night, 2003^[12]
• Diosa de Plata award for Best Screenplay Award for Efectos Secundarios.
• Best Screenplay at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival for Casi Divas^[13]
• Nominated: Best Screenplay, Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award, 600 Millas Best Script, for 600 Millas.

References

^{[14][15][16] [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}

External links

• Issa López on IMDb