Issa López

Writing

Issa López

Mexico City, Mexico

Issa López is a Mexican director, writer and producer. Twelve Spanish language features have been produced from her scripts, four of them directed by herself. She has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature in 2007. In 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish) premiered at Fantastic Fest, in Austin, Texas. Written and directed by López, the film received the Best Horror Director Award, and went on to collect fifty-one awards in film festivals around the world, three Diosas de Plata, including Best Picture and Best Director, and received ten Ariel Awards nominations, of which it won two. The film earned multiple positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Currently, López is developing projects with Guillermo del Toro, Noah Hawley and Jason Blum. She directed and co-wrote all episodes of the fourth installment of HBO's TV series True Detective, which aired in January and February of 2024, as True Detective: Night Country. Description above from the Wikipedia article Issa López, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Tigers Are Not Afraid poster
6.8

When her mother suddenly disappears with no one to care for her, young Estrella ends up on the street and joins a gang of children, triggering a dangerous and tragic chain of events.

Tigers Are Not Afraid

2017

Tigers Are Not Afraid poster
6.8

When her mother suddenly disappears with no one to care for her, young Estrella ends up on the street and joins a gang of children, triggering a dangerous and tragic chain of events.

Tigers Are Not Afraid

2017

Charm School poster
7.0

Defiant 18-year-old Adela León pushes her father and an unbending headmistress to the limit in this delicious comedy.

Charm School

2007

600 Miles poster
6.0

Arnulfo Rubio smuggles weapons from Arizona to Mexico for a drug cartel, but he is being investigated by agent Harris. When agent Harris blows his covers, he and Arnulfo end up in a journey where he will be the hostage of this young criminal.

600 Miles

2015

Personal Effects poster
6.2

At 18, fresh from high school, Marina, Ignacio, Adam and Mimi, school mates bonded by fate, shared a dream about adult life, a dream of fame, success, perfect skin and that one endless, true love that, surely, was waiting just around the corner for each one of them. But 30's arrived, and none of the sweet promises of youth was fulfilled. Alone, failed and frustrated, all four are forced to stop and look around to try to understand where it all went wrong, and find an emergency fix for their lives, before it's too late, and happiness escapes through their fingers forever. Secondary Effects is the bitter coming of age comedy that follows their steps in the search for lost dreams, lost hair and good sex, at least, if true love turns out to be a mirage.

Personal Effects

2006

Personal Effects poster
6.2

At 18, fresh from high school, Marina, Ignacio, Adam and Mimi, school mates bonded by fate, shared a dream about adult life, a dream of fame, success, perfect skin and that one endless, true love that, surely, was waiting just around the corner for each one of them. But 30's arrived, and none of the sweet promises of youth was fulfilled. Alone, failed and frustrated, all four are forced to stop and look around to try to understand where it all went wrong, and find an emergency fix for their lives, before it's too late, and happiness escapes through their fingers forever. Secondary Effects is the bitter coming of age comedy that follows their steps in the search for lost dreams, lost hair and good sex, at least, if true love turns out to be a mirage.

Personal Effects

2006

Weeding Night poster
7.3

Lucía and Nico, the couple of the century, are about to say yes... although not with each other. It turns out that they both decided to get married on the same day and in the same place, but with other people.

Weeding Night

2024

Pulling Strings poster
6.9

Rachel is an intelligent, modern-day woman constantly on the move. Primarily focused on her career as a diplomatic consul for the U.S. embassy, she's literally lived her life on the move, globe-trotting from city to city. Currently working in Mexico City and set to leave for London, Rachel's world turns upside down on the eve of her own goodbye party when she gets drunk and passes out on the street. Saved by Alejandro, a handsome Mariachi singer and single father, Rachel wakes up in his apartment with no recollection of how she got there. Nor does she remember that she rejected his visa the day before, which he desperately needs for his daughter. Romance unexpectedly blossoms between the two, but either sparks or fists will fly after she finds out his secret.

Pulling Strings

2013

Ladies' Night poster
7.2

Two girls find love in the most unexpected places in modern-day Mexico City.

Ladies' Night

2003

Casi divas poster
6.6

Four ambitious and beautiful young women. From four very different corners of Mexico. Just like hundreds of others, they are caught up in the frenzy that sweeps the nation when Alejandro Mateos, one of the country's most powerful producers, dreams up a nationwide talent search to cast the lead in his next big movie.

Casi divas

2008

Casi divas poster
6.6

Four ambitious and beautiful young women. From four very different corners of Mexico. Just like hundreds of others, they are caught up in the frenzy that sweeps the nation when Alejandro Mateos, one of the country's most powerful producers, dreams up a nationwide talent search to cast the lead in his next big movie.

Casi divas

2008

A la mala poster
7.7

Maria Laura "Mala" is an actress with little luck, but she is successful working for other women, seducing their boyfriends to know if they are faithful or not. But everything changes when her dream to perform in her acting career depends on a job to be performed with Santiago who breaks the pattern and shakes her professional convictions.

A la mala

2015

No artwork available
NR

The film is set in a world in which some babies are born without souls. A young expectant mother is sent to an unusual wellness center in the desert, with the hopes that it will improve her chances of delivering a healthy baby.

Lost Souls

No artwork available
NR

The film is set in a world in which some babies are born without souls. A young expectant mother is sent to an unusual wellness center in the desert, with the hopes that it will improve her chances of delivering a healthy baby.

Lost Souls

Everything's Gone Wrong! poster
7.1

When a young diplomat manages to get the Austrian government to return the Plume of Moctezuma to Mexico for an exhibition, his life quickly falls apart.

Everything's Gone Wrong!

2018

Everything's Gone Wrong! poster
7.1

When a young diplomat manages to get the Austrian government to return the Plume of Moctezuma to Mexico for an exhibition, his life quickly falls apart.

Everything's Gone Wrong!

2018

Everything's Gone Wrong! poster
7.1

When a young diplomat manages to get the Austrian government to return the Plume of Moctezuma to Mexico for an exhibition, his life quickly falls apart.

Everything's Gone Wrong!

2018

Class Trip poster
3.6

Sometimes you can live your whole life in a few days... A high school graduation trip in which love, friendship, desire, illusion, innocence and the forbidden are all part of the adventure. Charm and disillusionment shine through teenage friendships as the characters try to understand what is happening to them and what they should do with their future.

Class Trip

2012

No artwork available
NR

A child from another world is trapped in our broken reality, without documents, in a detention center for unaccompanied minors and children separated from their families at the U.S. Border.

The Girl with a Thousand Names

No artwork available
NR

A child from another world is trapped in our broken reality, without documents, in a detention center for unaccompanied minors and children separated from their families at the U.S. Border.

The Girl with a Thousand Names