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José Luis García Agraz

José Luis García Agraz

Directing

Biography

José Luis García Agraz (born 16 November 1952) is a Mexican film director. He was born in Mexico City in 1952. He studied at the Centro de Estudios Cinematográficos (or CUEC) at UNAM. His script Los supersabios was turned into an animated feature in 1975. He was assistant director to José Estrada in Maten al león (1975) and Los indolentes; to Julián Pastor in El esperado amor desesperado (1975) and La casta divina (1976); to Gonzalo Martínez in Del otro lado del puente (1977), and to Arturo Ripstein in La viuda negra (1977) and Cadena perpetua (1978). His first short film Háblame de Rita (1979), which he also wrote, was shown at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival in Bilbao. His second short Patricio (1982) received an Ariel award. It was also selected for the Festival Internacional de Nuevo Cine in Havana and once again the Bilbao short film festival. His other shorts include Saxofón (1987), Solamente una vez (1988), Ladrón de sábado (1990) and El último tren (1996). Along with Fernando Cámara, Toño Betancourt, Nerio Barbieris and Marcelo Llacarino, Agraz founded the film cooperative Kinam to realize his debut feature Nocaut, which he also wrote. Nocaut won the Ariel for best debut film. It also won the Heraldo and the Diosa de Plata awards. The film was shown at film festivals in Amiens, Madrid and New York City among others. Agraz followed up with a number of features, notable among which are Sueños de oro / Dreams of gold (a co-production between México and the USA, 1984); La paloma azul (a Japanese-Mexican co-production, 1989); and Desiertos mares (1993), which won him the best director prize at the Ariel awards in 1994. He repeated the feat in 2004 with El Misterio del Trinidad.

Known For

Del otro lado del puente
5.4

Among Chicanos in Los Angeles, young Alberto lives with the family of Dany, his older brother. Alberto studies at UCLA with the support of Professor Bob. Another young man, Jimy Joe, who lives with his sister Estela, is encouraged to quit drugs at a youth rehabilitation center coordinated by Many. Estela sees Jimy Joe being beaten up by gang members. Disillusioned with a gringa, Alberto meets Estela at a nightclub and becomes her boyfriend. Jimy Joe and his friends are surprised by a gang, and he is the only one left alive after a fierce fight, but with a fractured skull. The operation is very expensive, so Alberto and Many decide to raise funds with a show at the Convention Center. Alberto triumphs there as a composer and singer. Now saved, Jimy Joe dances in the street to one of Alberto's songs with Alberto, Estela, and others.

Del otro lado del puente

1980Movie
Con el amor no se juega
6.5

Susana, a beautiful young girl living in 1990, is happily looking forward to her forthcoming marriage - and has bought an antique mirror to grace her future home. Three weeks before the wedding, the mirror is delivered to her Grandmother's home and taken to Susana's room. Later that day, when looking into the glass, Susana is startled to see the image of a handsome soldier, Nicolas (from 1863), instead of her own reflection. It soon becomes obvious that he can see Susana as clearly as she can see him - and life, for them both, is never quite the same again. Contains three shorts as a trilogy: The Two Way Mirror (El espejo de dos lunas) 1990, 0:29:23 With You from a Distance (Contigo en la distancia) 1991, 0:27:38 Saturday Night Thief (Ladrón de sábado) 1996, 0:24:57

Con el amor no se juega

1991Movie