Alumni Win Big at the Guadalajara International Film Festival

March 28, 2019

The Life and Death of Espíritu Perdomo, a feature film project written & directed by alumnus Mauricio Leiva Cock '13 and produced by alumnus Mauro Mueller '13, won the El Taller post-production prize and the Cinema226 development, co-production, production and promotion prizes at the Guadalajara International Film Festival's Co-Production Meeting this week.

In other exciting news, Tenebris, a series created by Leiva-Cock along with alumnus David Figueroa García '13, and produced by Mueller, was also featured in the FICG TV Pitchbox pitching event at the Festival.

The Guadalajara International Film Festival is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara since 1986 and is considered the most prestigious film festival in Latin America.

Mauricio Leiva-Cock is a Colombian independent narrative filmmaker. He is a founding member of Fidelio Films and currently resides in Colombia. Leiva-Cock's work has participated in festivals and artistic residences worldwide such as the Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab, Tribeca All Access, Buenos Aires Talents, Morelia, Beijing, Biarritz, São Paulo, San Sebastian and Huesca. His first short film, Clankety Clank won the Best Colombian Short award at the Bogota Film Festiva and the Specialized Press award at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Lebu, among other awards. His next short film, Café Con Leche won the ShotsTV/Numericable Award at the Biarritz Festival Amerique Latine, France.

Mauro Mueller is an independent Swiss-Mexican narrative filmmaker and member of Fidelio Films. He won in the Student Academy Awards in 2013 for the short Un Mundo Papa Raúl (A World for Raúl), his Columbia thesis film. He is also known for directing the short films Ge.hen'nah in 2010, Fingerspiel in 2013, Dear Chickens starring Philip Baker Hall and Kerris Dorsey in 2018 and for producing the feature film Copenhagen, the omnibus feature film A Quintet, and the Mexican feature In Times of Rain. Mueller was a creative assistant for Mark Raso on the TIFF 2017 entry Kodachrome. His script, A Few Days In The Sun, was selected for Ibermedia’s Ibero-American Film Projects Development Course, a grant from the Carolina Foundation, the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund at the Los Cabos Film Festival, IFP no borders in New York and also received the IMCINE Development Grant.

David Figueroa García is a writer-director from Mexico City and member of Fidelio Films. His work has been seen in festivals around the world and has won him prestigious awards from the Directors Guild of America and Brooklyn Arts Council, among others. He is currently based out of Brooklyn, New York. García’s first short film, Ratitas, premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival and went on to win the award for Best Short Film in the Brooklyn Film Festival, Best Mexican Short in the Monterrey International Film Festival, and Best Actor for Kristyan Ferrer Short Shorts Film Festival Mexico (SSFFM).

Fidelio Films is an independent production company based in Bogotá, Mexico City, Toronto and Zurich. Their approach to storytelling is focused on modern day cross-cultural narratives and has taken their projects to audiences worldwide. The company has produced a number of acclaimed short films, winning twice in a row in the Student Academy Awards with Under in 2012, and A World for Raúl in 2013. In 2014, their short Perfidia was in the regional final of the Student Academy Awards. Their first feature film, Copenhagen, featuring Gethin Anthony, Bodil Awards-winner Frederikke Dahl Hansen, Sebastian Armesto, Mille Dinesen, Baard Owe, and Tamzin Merchant, was theatrically released in North America in 2014.