Issa López

In this article, the surname is López.
Issa López
López in 2017
Born (1971-08-03) 3 August 1971
Mexico City, Mexico
Alma materNational School of Film Arts (BA)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • writer
  • producer
Years active1994–present

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.[1]

López has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature in 2007.[2]

Early life

Issa López was born in Mexico City,[3][4] 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 with her, which has left López with a melancholy lack of closure that would be used in her later, more serious works.[5] 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 father, 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[6]

Life and career

Issa López studied archeology for about two years, until "the pull of cinema was too strong to resist". She abandoned archeology and enrolled in Mexico's National University Filmschool, where she obtained a BA in Film Directing and Screenwriting. After her BA, she completed a two-year graduate program for dramatic writing. López began co-writing telenovelas and TV shows at Televisa. In 2003, she wrote the film Ladies' Night which was a box-office success, becoming the 5th biggest grossing Mexican film of 2003 and 2004.

López has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.[2] In addition to her literary work, she penned multiple TV shows, some of them reaching the highest audience ratings in Mexican prime-time TV, and wrote the scripts for several film features, three of them produced in Mexico by the Major Hollywood Studios, and two of those directed by herself; Efectos Secundarios (Warner Bros., 2006) and Casi Divas (Sony Pictures, 2008). In 2015, López shot her third feature as a director, and tenth as a writer, Tigers Are Not Afraid. In March 2018, Todo Mal, her fourth feature film as a director, 11th as a writer, opened in Mexico.

In 2005, López was selected as one of the 50 Latino Impact Players in Entertainment, by Variety.

In 2006, López would make her director debut with the release of the film Efectos Secundarios, a Mexican comedy film about four school friends reuniting at an alumni party, focusing on their midlife struggles. This would be the first film that López directed along with writing the film as well. [8]

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.[9]

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. [7][10]

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.[11]

In September 2017, after being rejected from several film festivals like Sundance[12],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.[6] For Tigers Are Not Afraid, López won Best Picture and Best Director at the 47th Diosas de Plata[13] and the film received 10 nominations at the 60th Ariel Awards, among them Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for López, in 2018.[14] 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' next film,[15] a haunted western about the werewolf mythology.[16] Searchlight Pictures signed her to write and direct The Book of Souls,[17] to be produced by Noah Hawley, and Blumhouse is developing Our Lady of Tears,[18] written and directed by López. She also wrote, produced and directed the fourth season of cult HBO series True Detective.[19] For her work on the series, López received three Primetime Emmy nominations at the 2024 ceremony.[20] She is set to develop a fifth season after the fourth received critical acclaim and the series’ best ratings for HBO.[21] 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.[22]

Filmography

Short film

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

Television

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1997 Plaza Sésamo Yes Yes No Director for 1 Episode, Writer for 3 Episodes
1999 Laberintos de pasión No Yes No Writer for 80 Episodes
2000 Primer amor... a mil por hora No Yes No Telenovela
2019 Britannia Yes No No Director for 2 Episodes
2024 True Detective Yes Yes Yes Season 4

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer Producer
2003 Ladies' Night No Yes No
2006 Efectos secundarios Yes Yes Associate
2007 Bad Girls No Yes No
2008 Road to Fame Yes Yes No
2012 Viaje de Generación No Yes No
2013 Pulling Stings No Yes No
2015 600 Miles No Yes No
A la mala No Yes No
2017 Tigers Are Not Afraid Yes Yes Executive
2018 La Boda de Valentina No Yes Executive
Todo Mal Yes Yes Yes
2024 Noches De Bodas No Yes No

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

TV Show Awards

References

[25][26][27][28][23][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][24]

  1. ^ Wigler, Josh (19 February 2024). "'True Detective: Night Country' Team Explains Ambiguous Ending: "You Should Be Making Theories"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Premio Bellas Artes de Novela José Rubén Romero". literatura.inba.gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  3. ^ "La influencia mexicana en el séptimo arte es innegable". El Regio. 18 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Los mexicanos más creativos de 2018". Forbes.com. 11 January 2019.
  5. ^ "How a Sherlock Holmes obsession and personal loss informed Issa López's 'True Detective'". Los Angeles Times. 15 January 2024. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Mejía, Paula (20 August 2018). "Interview: Issa López". Film Comment. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  7. ^ a b "SPOTLIGHT October 2019: Issa Lopez, Filmmaker, TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS". 29 September 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  8. ^ "Issa Lopez - Latina Powerhouse 2024". HOLA! USA. 30 September 2024. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  9. ^ de la Fuente, Anna Marie (19 January 2008). "Hans Zimmer opens heart for 'Divas'". Variety. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  10. ^ Thompson, Anne (5 June 2024). "Issa López Leaned Into Nasty Women and Icy Ghosts to Craft Her Record-Breaking 'True Detective: Night Country'". IndieWire. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  11. ^ http://www.premioariel.com.mx/images/Franjas/NominadosPorPelicula.pdf
  12. ^ Mejía, Paula (20 August 2018). "Interview: Issa López". Film Comment. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  13. ^ Gómez, Belén (26 April 2018). "Vuelven triunfa en las Diosas de Plata". Videocine (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Ariel 2018 - Ganadores". AMACC (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  15. ^ de la Fuente, Anna Marie (13 March 2018). "Guillermo del Toro to Produce Issa Lopez, Karla Castaneda's Next Films (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  16. ^ Topel, Fred (29 March 2019). "Guillermo del Toro Teases Upcoming Horror Projects With Jennifer Kent and Issa Lopez". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  17. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (22 January 2020). "Issa López To Write/Direct Searchlight Adaptation Of Matthew Baker Short 'Lost Souls;' Noah Hawley Producing". Deadline. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  18. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (20 May 2020). "Blumhouse Developing 'Our Lady Of Tears' With Issa López Adapting & Directing". Deadline. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  19. ^ Haskoor, Michael (20 March 2022). "'True Detective' Season 4 In Development At HBO With Barry Jenkins". Decider. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  20. ^ "Issa López". Television Academy. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  21. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (22 February 2024). "'True Detective' Renewed for Season 5 With Issa López at the Helm". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  22. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (12 February 2025). "'True Detective' Season 5 Setting Revealed As HBO Series Gears Up For Production". Deadline. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  23. ^ a b "[1] Archived 24 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine" Best Screenplay Award for Ladies' Night, CYIIF, 2006, Accessed 5 November 2013
  24. ^ a b ""Past Winners | Latino International Film Institute & festival, LALIFF |". Archived from the original on 14 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012." Casi Divas Best Screenplay Award at Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, 2008, Accessed 7 November 2013
  25. ^ "[2]"Issa López National novel award, Accessed 5 November 2013
  26. ^ "[3]" Music Hans Zimmer for Casi Divas, Variety, Accessed 5 November 2013
  27. ^ "" Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Arieled Members of Mexican Motion Picture Academy, 1994, Accessed Nov 7 2013.
  28. ^ "" Rotten Tomatoes rating and info, Rotten Tomatoes, 2013, Accessed 7 November 2013
  29. ^ "[4] Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine" Ladies Night, Miravista Films, 2003, Accessed 5 November 2013
  30. ^ "[5]" Casi Divas review by Variety, 2009, Accessed 5 November 2013
  31. ^ "[6] Casi Divas Review by Los Angeles Times, 2009, Accessed Nov 5 2013
  32. ^ "[7]" Efectos Secundarios, Warner Bros., 2006, Accessed 5 November 2013
  33. ^ "[8]" Charm School, Sony Pictures, 2007, Accessed 5 November 2013
  34. ^ ""Past Winners | Latino International Film Institute & festival, LALIFF |". Archived from the original on 14 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012." Best Screenplay Award, Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, 2008, Accessed 5 November 2013
  35. ^ "[9]" Efectos Secundarios, Awards on IMDb, Accessed 5 November 2013
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