Nicolás Pereda

Nicolás Pereda (born 1982) is a Mexican-Canadian film director. His films regularly blend aspects and techniques of both narrative fiction and documentary filmmaking. His films include Where Are Their Stories?, Summer of Goliath (2010), Tales of Two Who Dreamt (2016), Fauna (2020), Lázaro at Night (2024), and Copper (2025).

Early life Pereda was born in Mexico City in 1982; he holds dual Mexican and Canadian citizenship. He studied filmmaking at York University. He received his Bachelor degree of Fine Arts in Films in 2005 and his Master in 2007.

Career Pereda's award-winning films include Where Are Their Stories? (2007), Summer of Goliath (2010), Fauna (2020), Lázaro at Night (2024), and Copper (2025). His films have been described as "meticulous, minimalist, deadpan." His films regularly blend aspects and techniques of both narrative fiction and documentary filmmaking.

His films have been exhibited in festivals around the world, including at the Venice Film Festival, Berlinale, Rotterdam, and the Toronto International Film Festival. Pereda's work has also been presented at several archives, retrospectives, and cinematheques, including the Anthology Film Archives, the Pacific Film Archive, and the Harvard Film Archive, the latter of which wrote of his work: "Pereda’s films are resolutely Mexican in focus and almost exclusively deal with stories drawn directly from the everyday lives and worlds of their working-class characters."

Other work Pereda formerly served as the director of the Filmmaking Program, a new BFA program at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Personal life Pereda is married to film director Andrea Bussmann, with whom he codirected the 2016 film Tales of Two Who Dreamt.

Awards Pereda has won several awards for his filmmaking work, including the $10,000 Jay Scott Prize from the Toronto Film Critics Association in 2013, and an honorable mention from the jury for the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Film at TIFF.

His other filmmaking awards include: Best Film, Morelia International Film Festival, Where are their Stories (2007) Best Documentary, Curtas Vila do Conde, Interview with the Earth (2008) Best Documentary, Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico for Interview with the Earth (2008) K.M. Hunter Award, Film & Video (2009) Best Film, Guadalajara International Film Festival, Perpetuum Mobile (2010) Images Prize, Images Festival, All Things Were Now Overtaken by Silence (Todo, en fin, el silencio lo ocupaba) (2010) Best Film, Valdivia International Film Festival, Chile for Summer of Goliath (2010) Critics Prize, Valdivia International Film Festival, Chile for Summer of Goliath (2010) Orizzonti Award for Best Film, Venice Film Festival, Summer of Goliath (2010) Best Film, Cinema of the Future – BAFICI, Summer of Goliath (2011) Grand Prix du Jury, Festival La Roche-sur-Yon, The Greatest Hits (Los mejores temas) (2012) FIPRESCI Award, Havana Film Festival, The Greatest Hits (Los mejores temas) (2012) Best Documentary, Curtas Vila Do Conde, The Palace (2013) Special Mention, RIDM, Tales of Two Who Dreamt (Historias de dos que soñaron) (2016)

Filmography Where Are Their Stories? (¿Dónde están sus historias?), 2007 Interview with the Earth (Entrevista con la tierra), 2008 Together (Juntos), 2009 Perpetuum Mobile, 2009 All Things Were Now Overtaken by Silence (Todo, en fin, el silencio lo ocupaba), 2010 Summer of Goliath (Verano de Goliat), 2010 The Greatest Hits (Los mejores temas), 2012 Killing Strangers (Matar extraños), 2013 The Palace (El palacio), 2013 The Absent (Los ausentes), 2014 The Empty Classroom (El aula vacía), 2015 Minotaur (Minotauro), 2015 Tales of Two Who Dreamt (Historias de dos que soñaron), 2016 My Skin, Luminous (Mi piel, luminosa), 2019 Fauna, 2020 Dear Chantal (Querida Chantal), 2021 Lázaro at Night (Lázaro de noche), 2024 Copper (Cobre), 2025 Everything Else Is Noise (Lo demás es ruido), 2026