José Luis García Agraz (born 16 November 1952) is a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. He was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

in 1952. He studied at the Centro de Estudios Cinematográficos (or CUEC) at

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

Writer and Director

His script ''Los supersabios'' was turned into an animated feature in 1975. He was assistant director to José Estrada in ''Maten al león'' (1975) and ''Los indolentes''; to

Julián Pastor Julián Pastor (18 October 1943 - 24 August 2015) was a Mexican actor and film director. He appeared in more than sixty films from 1973 to 2008. Filmography References External links * 1943 births 2015 deaths Mexican male film ac ...

in ''El esperado amor desesperado'' (1975) and ''La casta divina'' (1976); to Gonzalo Martínez in ''Del otro lado del puente'' (1977), and to

Arturo Ripstein Arturo Ripstein y Rosen (born December 13, 1943) is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. Considered the "Godfather of independent Mexican cinema", Ripstein's work is generally characterized by "somber, slow-paced, macabre melodramas tackling ...

in ''La viuda negra'' (1977) and ''Cadena perpetua'' (1978). His first

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

''Háblame de Rita'' (1979), which he also wrote, was shown at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival in

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. His second short ''Patricio'' (1982) received an

Ariel award The Ariel Award ( es, Premio Ariel) is an award that recognizes the best of Mexican cinema. Given annually, since 1946, by the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), the award recognizes artistical and technical excel ...

. It was also selected for the Festival Internacional de Nuevo Cine in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

and once again the Bilbao short film festival. His other shorts include ''Saxofón'' (1987), ''Solamente una vez'' (1988), ''Ladrón de sábado'' (1990) and ''El último tren'' (1996). Along with Fernando Cámara, Toño Betancourt, Nerio Barbieris and Marcelo Llacarino, Agraz founded the film cooperative Kinam to realize his debut feature ''Nocaut'', which he also wrote. ''Nocaut'' won the Ariel for best debut film. It also won the Heraldo and the

Diosa de Plata Michael Anthony Torres Monge (born January 15, 1994), known by his stage name Myke Towers, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter. Career His mixtape ''El Final del Principio'' (2016) peaked at 12 on Latin Rhythm Albums. Towers collab ...

awards. The film was shown at film festivals in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

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and

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among others. Agraz followed up with a number of features, notable among which are ''Sueños de oro'' / ''Dreams of gold'' (a co-production between México and the USA, 1984); ''La paloma azul'' (a Japanese-Mexican co-production, 1989); and ''Desiertos mares'' (1993), which won him the best director prize at the Ariel awards in 1994. He repeated the feat in 2004 with ''El Misterio del Trinidad''.

Educational work

He has also made a number of documentaries and educational programs for television. As a professor of film, he has taught at the

Universidad Iberoamericana The Ibero-American University ( es, Universidad Iberoamericana), also referred to by its acronym ''UIA'' but commonly known as ''Ibero'' or ''La Ibero'') is a private, Catholic, Mexican higher education institution, sponsored by the Mexican provi ...

, the Instituto de Comunicación Audiovisual de Monterrey (ICAM), the Universidad Metropolitana de Xochimilco and the

Universidad Anáhuac The Anahuac University Network is a private universities system grouped and administered by the religious congregation of the Legion of Christ. The network is composed of several universities, some with different names and educational approaches. ...

.Bio
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Agraz, Jose Luis Mexican film directors 1952 births Living people