in English - Cannes International Film Festival

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Filmmakers
GERARDO NARANJO
(Director & Screenwriter)
Beginning his career with a stint writing film
criticism, Naranjo directed his first short, Perro
Negro, in 1997, then went on to earn a
masters degree in directing at the American
Film Institute in Los Angeles. In 2005
he starred in Azazel Jacobs’ The Good Times
Kid, which he also co-wrote, and in 2006
he premiered his first feature film, Drama/
Mex, at Cannes’s Semaine de la Critique. Drama/Mex
was included in film festivals
around the world, as was Naranjo’s film of
2008, I’m Gonna Explode; after premiering at
the 65th Venice Biennale, I’m Gonna Explode
was featured in the 46th New York Film Festival
and the Toronto Film Festival, and won
the “FIPRESCI” award at the Thessaloniki
Film Festival. Most recently Naranjo participated
in REVOLUCIÓN, a compilation of
ten short films directed by ten contemporary
Mexican directors, that’s been included
in more than twenty-five festivals, and was
voted Best Film at Biarritz Latin American
Film Festival. In 2010 Naranjo was included
in Take 100, The Future of Film: 100 New Directors,
a compendium of gifted emerging
filmmakers from around the world that was
published by Phaidon.
MAURICIO KATZ
(Screenwriter)
Born in Mexico City in 1976, Katz studied
film at the School of Visual Arts in New York
City, and in 2000 co-founded Judo Media, a
company specializing in marketing foreign
films, with a focus on Mexico. Campaigns
managed by his company include the phe-
nomenally successful Y Tu Mama Tambien,
directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and starring
Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. In 2003
Katz founded Videodromo, the first and
only specialty video store in Mexico, which
continues to operate successfully. In 2005,
Katz ventured into film distribution with the
founding of Tarantula Films, which services
theaters as well as the home video market.
Films distributed by Tarantula include The
Science of Sleep, Drama/Mex, and Lady Vengeance,
among many others. Katz’ recent
projects include Miss Bala, and Verdaderamete
Durazo, a documentary about Mexico’s
notoriously corrupt police officer Arturo
Durazo, that Katz scripted and directed for
Mexico’s Once TV. Katz along with Pedro
Peraino and Pablo Cruz, (CANANA), are
developping El Santoniño, a television series
that begins production this year and will be
distributed by Canal Once in Mexico. It is
the story of three young doctors who travel
to a Mexican town gripped by an epidemic,
El Santoniño chronicles their slow realization
that the town is actually a cult that worships
El Niño. Katz currently teaches film production
at Centro University in Mexico City.
MATYAS ERDELY
(Cinematographer)
Erdely is based out of Budapest, Hungary.
He completed his cinematography studies
both at the Hungarian University of Drama
and Film in Budapest and at the American
Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles,
California. He began his career in commercials
while still attending film school and
worked with high profile agencies and
clients. His narrative work has been screened
at festivals around the world, such as
Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Sundance and
he has received several awards. Four of the
films he has collaborated in have been presented
in Cannes, including Delta, which
was In Competition and won the FIPRESCI
Award in 2008. His next film Tender Son-The
Frankenstein Project was also selected to participate
in Cannes (In Competition) in 2010.
Most recently, Erdely has finished shooting
Gerardo Naranjo’s latest feature Miss Bala.
He is currently shooting Teona Mitevska’s
latest film in Germany.
PABLO CRUZ
(Producer)
In 2007, Variety cited Pablo Cruz as one
of its “10 Producers to Watch.” In 2011,
Cruz returns to the Variety’s list as one of
its “People to Know.” Since the creation of
CANANA in 2005, a company formed by
Cruz and partners Gael Garcia Bernal and
Diego Luna, Cruz has made inroads in Mexican
cinema and distribution, by making
films that have international appeal.
Cruz has produced over ten films in the
span of five years, including: Gerardo
Naranjo’s Drama/Mex and Voy A Explotar
[I’m Gonna Explode]; Diego Luna’s directorial
debut, documentary J.C. Chávez; Gael Garcia
Bernal’s directorial debut, Déficit; Agustín
Díaz Yanes’ Sólo Quiero Caminar; Israel
Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán’s Cochochi;
and Cary Fukunaga’s Sin Nombre, a
co-production with Focus Features. Cefaló-
podo, Ruben Imaz’s second feature film; Abel,
Luna’s second film, Revolución an omnibus
movie directed by 10 Contemporary
Mexican Directors and Jean Gentil, Israel
Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzman’s second
film; and Soy Tu Fan, a television series
starring Ana Claudia Talancón that has been
sold to Telemundo in the U.S. and MTV in
Latin America. In 2008, Cruz successfully entered
into theatre production with El Buen
Canario [The Good Canary], written by Zach
Helm and Directed by John Malkovich. The
production’s success (36 consecutive sold
out nights) lead to a national tour amongst
12 major cities in Mexico.
In 2010 Cruz made in-roads in the Mexican
box-office with the film Abel. The film
is the fourth largest grossing Mexican movie
in 2010. The film has been showcased in
over 20 festival including Sundance (in the
Premieres section) , Cannes and San Sebastian
where it received the Horizontes Award
for Best Film and the Youth Award. The film
has been sold in France, England, Spain,
Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Aus-
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