Antonio Méndez Esparza (; born 7 January 1976) is a Spanish filmmaker based in the United States. He teaches at the

Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts The Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts (colloquially known as The Film School) is the film school of the Florida State University. About 215 students are enrolled in classes, including undergraduates and graduate students, in ...

Life and career

Méndez Esparza was born in Madrid, where he obtained a law degree. He studied filmmaking at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, and at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he received an MFA. His 2009 short film ''Time and Again'' () won the narrative short prize at the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

and earned him a Latino filmmaker prize at the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

's Student Film Awards. His first feature, '' Aquí y allá'', premiered in the International Critics' Week at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. ...

and won the section's Grand Prize. The film also received a special mention at the 2012 AFI Fest and earned him a nomination for the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Director. Both films depict experiences of Mexican migrants to the United States with non-professional actors. His second feature, '' Life and Nothing More'', premiered at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 7 to 17 September 2017. There were fourteen programmes, with the Vanguard and City to City programmes both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down b ...

and won the

John Cassavetes Award The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after ac ...

at the

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with Poly(methyl m ...

. Shot in Tallahassee with a small crew and non-professional actors, the film depicts a struggling African-American family in Florida. His third feature and first documentary, ''Courtroom 3H'', premiered in competition at the 2020 San Sebastián International Film Festival. The film documents proceedings in a Tallahassee family court presided by a judge with whom Méndez Esparza became acquainted while making ''Life and Nothing More''. In 2022, he directed the comedy thriller ''Something Is About to Happen'', which he co-wrote with

Clara Roquet Clara Roquet (born 1988) is a Spanish filmmaker from Catalonia. Biography Roquet was born in 1988. Reported birthplaces include Malla, Vic, and Barcelona. She studied at the Pompeu Fabra University and Columbia University. She made her writing ...

based on the novel by

Juan José Millás Juan José Millás (born 1946) is a Spanish writer and winner of the 1990 Premio Nadal. He was born in Valencia, Spain, Valencia and has spent most of his life in Madrid, Spain, Madrid, where he studied philosophy and literature at the Universida ...

, in Spain.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez Esparza, Antonio 1976 births Living people Film directors from Madrid Spanish film directors Spanish documentary film directors Spanish male screenwriters Film educators Florida State University faculty Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Spanish emigrants to the United States