Alonso Alvarez

Born in Mexico City and raised in the town of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Alonso Alvarez-Barreda is an award-winning Mexican director/writer whose critically praised short films have been featured in festivals around the world. Alvarez-Barreda attended the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas to study International Commerce, but dropped out after two years to pursue his dream of filmmaking. Encouraged by his friend and mentor director Alejandro Monteverde, he shot his first project with a $50 budget. Historia de un Letrero went on to win the highly coveted Best Short Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. He penned his second short, El Descubrimiento (The Finding), with Julio César Cedillo who also starred in the 16mm film alongside Alejandro Felipe Flores, which follows a father and son who are forced to cope with life after a tragic death. The celebrated short is considered to be one of the best cinematographic expressions against domestic violence. El Descubrimiento was chosen as an official selection in over 20 international film festivals, grabbing 10 awards including the "Speak Out Against Domestic Violence" Humanitarian Award, and was invited to be a part of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The film also screened several times nationally on television in Mexico, in public schools and on the Metrobus system in Mexico City. Alvarez-Barreda's next short, Crescendo, a period piece set in the 18th century about a heavily pregnant woman trapped in an abusive marriage, has been an official selection in over 30 international film festivals including the prestigious Telluride and the New York Film Festival, taking over 20 international awards including the "Hollywood Discovery Award" at the Hollywood Film Festival. Alvarez-Barreda received the Best Director Award at the distinguished NBCUniversal Short Film Festival and earned nominations for Best Film and Best Writing. The film's star, Montserrat Espadalé, took home the Best Actor Award for her outstanding performance. As a side project, Alvarez-Barreda wrote and produced The Bench, a short film produced by Mark Burnett. Alvarez-Barreda was selected from hundreds of filmmakers from around the world to be a part of the HBOAccess® Directing Fellowship, which gives emerging directors from underrepresented groups the opportunity to shoot a project for HBO. Through that program he wrote and shot The Walk, a film about a Mexican man and his son who are faced with a major crisis of conscience as they try to cross the border illegally. The Walk was an official selection in over 20 international film festivals. Later, Alvarez-Barreda was chosen to be a part of the Fox Global Directors Initiative Program which gave him the opportunity to shadow several TV shows including Quarry, Rosewood and Snowfall. In 2018, Alvarez-Barreda directed for the second unit on Sound of Freedom, which shot on location in Colombia over the course of 52 days. He has also directed episodes of Snowfall, Party of Five, 9-1-1, The Chi, The Twilight Zone, Coyote and Mayans M.C. Next, Alvarez-Barreda is scheduled to begin production of his first feature film, The Wingwalker, starring Mexican star Omar Chaparro.