Diego Quemada-Díez

Diego Quemada-Diez (born in Burgos, Spain) is a Spanish-born Mexican film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, and producer. He is best known for his debut feature La jaula de Oro (The Golden Dream, 2013). The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, where it won three distinctions, including the Un Certain Talent Award, the Gillo Pontecorvo Award, and the François Chalais Special Mention Award. Following its success, La Jaula de Oro earned over 80 national and international awards, including nine Ariel Awards from the Mexican Film Academy.

Early life Quemada-Diez was born in Burgos, Spain. His parents separated when he was eight years old, after which he moved with his mother to Barcelona. His mother was a schoolteacher with an interest in the arts and progressive politics, and she frequently travelled to Guatemala and Mexico, where she had connections to missionaries associated with Liberation Theology. He has credited her influence as formative to his social and artistic outlook.

As a child he attended a progressive art school and developed an interest in painting, drawing, and writing. He has cited Shane (George Stevens, 1953) as the film that first inspired him to pursue filmmaking. Without access to film school in Spain or industry connections, he began working as a production runner on commercial productions in Barcelona, eventually rising to production coordinator under director Isabel Coixet.

At the age of 17, following his mother's death, he moved to Mexico, where he sought opportunities and pursue his ambition of becoming a film director. He later relocated to Los Angeles, where he studied cinematography at the American Film Institute on a scholarship, and graduated with a short film, A Table Is a Table (2001).

Career

Early career and collaboration with Ken Loach Quemada-Diez began his career as a camera assistant on Ken Loach's Land and Freedom (1995), a drama based on Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. He went on to work with Loach on two further films: Carla's Song (1996) and Bread and Roses (2000). Loach's filmmaking approach significantly influenced Quemada-Diez, particularly his methods of filming in narrative sequence, keeping actors unaware of upcoming plot developments, maintaining the camera at eye level, and working with non-professional actors in real locations. He has cited these principles as central to his own directorial practice. Work as a camera operator In the late 1990s and 2000s, Quemada-Diez worked as a camera operator across multiple feature productions. His credits during this period include Any Given Sunday (Oliver Stone), 21 Grams (Alejandro González Iñárritu), Man on Fire (Tony Scott), Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles), and She Hate Me (Spike Lee).

In 2006, he also directed the documentary short La Morena, which competed in the official selection of the Morelia International Film Festival. La jaula de oro (2013) In 2002, while making a documentary in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Quemada-Diez began a multi-year research process, interviewing migrants traveling through Mexico on freight trains. Over the course of six years, he conducted more than 600 interviews, compiling what he described as a "collective testimony" of the migrant experience. He relocated to Mexico City around 2007 to concentrate full-time on the project. The film was co-written with Gibran Portela and Lucía Carreras and produced by Quemada-Diez's company, Kinemascope Films, in partnership with Machete and Animal de Luz. It later received nine Ariel Awards from the Mexican Film Academy, the Best First Mexican Feature Film Award at the Morelia Film Festival, the Golden Gateway Of India award in the Mumbai Film Festival, the Best International Feature Film at the Zurich Film Festival, and the Satyajit Ray Foundation's Director of the Year award, among many other accolades.

Filmography

As director

Personal life Quemada-Diez is a naturalized Mexican citizen. After years of working in the United States and learning from his mentors in the film industry, he decided to settle in Mexico, where he focuses on telling stories that resonate with the migrant experience and address social issues affecting Latin America. He is also a member of various film organizations, including the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC). I Want to Be a Pilot 2013 2013 Cannes Film Festival — Un Certain Regard A Certain Talent Prize — ensemble cast La jaula de oro 2013 Thessaloniki International Film Festival Best Director La jaula de oro 2013 São Paulo International Film Festival Special Mention — New Directors La jaula de oro 2013 Fine Arts International Film Festival Best Director La jaula de oro 2013 Chicago International Film Festival Gold Hugo — New Directors Competition, awarded to the film La jaula de oro 2013 Mar del Plata International Film Festival Golden Astor for Best Feature Film La jaula de oro 2014 French Ministry of National Education Prix Jean Renoir des lycéens — awarded to the film La jaula de oro 2014 Havana Film Festival New York Best Director La jaula de oro 2014 56th Ariel Awards Best Original Screenplay — with Gibrán Portela and Lucía Carreras La jaula de oro 2014 56th Ariel Awards Nomination — Best Director La jaula de oro 2014 Calanda International Film Festival Best Direction La jaula de oro 2014 Fénix Awards Best Fiction Feature — awarded to the film La jaula de oro 2015 ACE Awards Best Director La jaula de oro