Issa López

Issa López (born 3 August 1971) is a Mexican director, writer and producer. Twelve Spanish language features have been produced from her original scripts, four of them directed by herself.

In 2017, López's film Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish) premiered at Fantastic Fest, where it won the Best Horror Director Award. The film also won numerous accolades internationally and in Mexico, including three Diosas de Plata and two Ariel Awards.

In 2024, Lopez directed and co-wrote every episode of True Detective: Night Country, the fourth installment of HBO's True Detective series.

López has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature in 2007.

Early life Issa López was born in Mexico City, where she was raised by her father after her mother died when she was eight years old. She was not allowed to attend her mother's funeral due to the adults in her life believing it would be too traumatic for her, which has left López with a melancholy lack of closure that would be used in her later, more serious works. Her father was a semiotics academic and a college professor. During her childhood her family faced economic hardships, since academia is not a high-paying field in Latin America. This was a defining aspect of her life, inspiring much of her later work, since her dad would try to keep her and her sister entertained in spite of their economic situation. López explained in one of her interviews that she, her sister and her dad would "go every weekend on some road trip through Mexico, from small town to small town, sitting to watch kung fu and horror movies in traveling cinemas, eating street food, visiting archeological sites, jungles, deserts and the most haunted little towns in the country". Those memories were the inspiration for many of her stories. López's father, due to the death of her mother, also frequently hired nannies to take care of her and her sister, who would frequently tell them stories about the supernatural and witches, planting the seeds for López's future interest in horror. She also spent a lot of her early youth reading horror comics and literature which later developed into an interest in horror films too, inspiring her later works in her film career. López that she has been particularly drawn to this genre due to how they use horror as a tool to highlight flaws in society. At age 16, López would write a short story about a boy attempting to join a gang of boys that wouldn't accept him. While this story that went unfinished and unpublished, López would use this story later in life as part of the basis for her film, Tigers Are Not Afraid.

In Mexico, López' movies have ranked among the highest grossing local productions: Ladies' Night (Disney, 2003) ranked fifth, Niñas Mal (Sony Pictures, 2007) seventh, and Efectos Secundarios fifteenth. Casi Divas opened in first place in the box office and went on to a limited theatrical run in the U.S. Casi Divas received enthusiastic reviews from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. The film is the only Mexican movie to be scored by acclaimed Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, who only charged $1 for his extensive work on the film.

In 2009, López would move to the US to work on a film with Joe Roth and Sony Pictures, however the project would fall through and never be completed. The cancellation of the project would lead López to begin working on a project that would become Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish), along with several other recent hardships in her life, such as the death of her father.

In 2015, 600 Millas, a film with a script co-written by López, was nominated for the Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award for Best Script.

In September 2017, after being rejected from several film festivals like Sundance ,Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven) Premiered at Fantastic Fest, in Austin Texas, and received the Best Horror Director Award. Issa López directed, wrote, and was executive producer of the film. In interviews, López cited that the inspiration for Tigers Are Not Afraid, came from long history of violence, especially in the modern day with how close people are to death. She also cited the death of her mother at an early age and her struggle of coming to terms with it, as an inspiration, using this trauma as the internal conflict for the protagonist, Estrella, who is haunted by the ghost of her mother after she had been murdered by gang members. and the film received 10 nominations at the 60th Ariel Awards, among them Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for López, in 2018. It also got a Best Latin American Director Award in 2019 from NALIP (National Association of Latino Producers) and Fangoria Magazine, specialised in Horror Cinema, awarded it Best Foreign Language Movie in 2020. The film earned multiple positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently, López is working with Guillermo del Toro, who announced that he'd produce López's next film, a haunted western about the werewolf mythology. Searchlight Pictures signed her to write and direct The Book of Souls, to be produced by Noah Hawley, and Blumhouse is developing Our Lady of Tears, written and directed by López. She also wrote, produced and directed the fourth season of cult HBO series True Detective. For her work on the series, López received three Primetime Emmy nominations at the 2024 ceremony. She is set to develop a fifth season after the fourth received critical acclaim and the series’ best ratings for HBO. The fifth season of True Detective, set in the Jamaica Bay area of New York City, is scheduled to begin filming in 2025 with a scheduled release in 2027.

Filmography

Short film Year Title Director Writer 1994 Tan callando 1994Quimera 2010 Sucedió en un día

Television

Feature film Year Title Director Writer Producer 2003 Ladies Night 2006 Efectos secundarios 2007 Bad Girls 2008 Road to Fame 2012 Viaje de Generación 2013 Pulling Stings 2015 600 Miles A la mala 2017 Tigers Are Not Afraid 2018 La Boda de Valentina Todo Mal 2024 Noches De Bodas

Awards Fiction Writer awards Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts Novel Award, 2007 . Efraín Huerta Short Story Award, 1995. Punto de Partida Short Story Award, 1995 Alica Short Story Award, 1994. Finalist, Ricardo Pozas Short Story Award, 1996. Finalist, Efren Hernández Short Story Award, 1994. Finalist, New Writers Plaza y Valdes Award, 1992.

Movie awards Winner: Cyprus International Film Festival Best screenplay Award, Ladies' night, 2003 Winner: Diosa de Plata award for Best Screenplay Award, Efectos Secundarios. 2007. Winner: Best Screenplay at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Casi Divas, 2009. Nominated: Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award, Best Screenplay 600 Millas 2016 Winner: Fantastic Fest Best Horror Director Award: Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid 2017 Winner: Screamfest, Los Angeles, CA: Best Actress: Paola Lara, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: Screamfest, Best Actor: José Ramón López, Tigers Are Not Afraid 2017 Winner: Screamfest, Best Editing: Joaquim Martí, Tigers Are Not Afraid 2017 Winner: Screamfest, Best Director: Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid 2017 Winner: Screamfest, Best Picture: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: Dedfest, Alberta, Canada: Audience Award for Best Picture: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: Mórbido Fest, Mexico City, Mexico: Press Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: Mórbido Fest, Best Latin-American Picture: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: Ithaca Fantastik, NY: Audience Award, Best Pur Film: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: Paris International Fantastic Film Festival: L'Oeil D'Or, Audience Best Picture Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: Paris International Fantastic Film Festival: Cinema+ Frisson Best Picture Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2017 Winner: NOXFILMEST, El Salto, Uruguay: Best Feature, Jury Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Panic Fest, Kansas City, Best Feature, Jury Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Lost Weekend, Austin, TX: Best Script: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Lost Weekend, Austin, TX: Best Director: Tigers Are Not Afraid 2018 Winner: Boston Underground Film Fest: Best Feature, Audience Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Chattanooga Film Festival: Best Feature Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Chicago Latino Film Festival: Best Feature, Audience Award:Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Silver Raven Award (Jury Award, 2nd Place). Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Best Feature, Audience Award: Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Imagine International Fantastic Film Festival, Amsterdam: Black Tulip (Jury Award): Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Calgary Underground Film Festival: Best Feature, Audience Award:Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Diosa de Plata, Mexico Film Critics Association Award: Best Child Actor, Paola Lara, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Diosa de Plata, Mexico Film Critics Association Award: Best Director, Issa López. Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Diosa de Plata, Mexico Film Critics Association Award: Best Picture, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Nominated: Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award, Best Screen Play, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Nominated: Mexican Film Academy Ariel Award, Best Director, Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Calgary Underground Film Festival: Best Feature (Audience Award), Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Hola Mexico Film Festival, Los Angeles: Best Director, Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Hola Mexico Film Festival, Los Angeles: Best Feature (Audience Award), Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Fant Bilbao, Spain: Best Script, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Fant Bilbao, Spain: Best Feature (Audience Award) Tigers Are Not Afraid''' 2018. Winner: BIFAN, South Korea: Best Director, Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Popcorn Frights, Florida: Best Feature (Jury Award), Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Grimmfest, Manchester: Best Feature (Jury Award), Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Grimmfest, Manchester: Best Feature (Audience Award), Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Grimmfest, Manchester: Best Script, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Lund Fantastic Film Festival, Sweden: Best Feature (Audience Award) Tigers Are Not Afraid, 2018. Winner: Celluloid Screams, Sheffield UK: Best Movie (Audience Award) Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018.Winner: Nocturna Festival, Madrid: Dark Visions Best Feature (Jury Award) Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Toronto After Dark: Best Screenplay Tigers Are Not Afraid 2018. Winner: Toronto After Dark: Best Director, Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Toronto After Dark: Most Original Film,Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Toronto After Dark: Best Feature Silver Award, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Cine Mexico Now, Detroit: Best Feature (Audience Award), Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Terror Molins, Catalonia: Best Director, Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 . Winner: Terror Molins, Catalonia: Best Feature Critics Golden Award, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 . Winner: Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival, Canada: Best Horror Feature (Audience Award, Gold), Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Winner: Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre, Argentina: Best Feature, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018 Winner: Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre, Argentina: Best Script, Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2018. Nominated: Latino Entertainment Journalists Association, Best Original Screenplay , Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid, 2020 Winner: NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers) Best Latin American Director, Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid, 2019 Winner: Fangoria Chainsaw Award, Best Foreign Language Movie, Tigers Are Not Afraid. 2020. TV Show Awards

Nominee: Primetime Emmy Awards, Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, True Detective. 2024 Nominee: Primetime Emmy Awards, Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, True Detective. 2024 Nominee: Primetime Emmy Awards, Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, True Detective. 2024 Winner: Imagen Foundation Award, Best Director-Television. 2024 Nominee: Directors Guild of America, USA, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series, True Detective. 2025 Winner: Writers Guild of America, USA, Limited Series, True Detective. 2025 Winner: Gracie Allen Awards, Writer Scripted-Drama, True Detective''. 2025