Joel Perez Irizarry

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he developed from an early age an interest in photography and the visual arts. When he was a teenager he spent most of his free time wondering the streets of Old San Juan with an old 35mm camera-documenting the life of people in the old city. That passion for the visual arts later took the form of a long-lasting interest in how images can communicate in a more powerful and profound way than any other medium. While studying comparative literature at the University of Puerto Rico, his interest in filmmaking started to grow; moving to study filmmaking in The London Film School, where he directed several short films-including "Sheepdog" shown in several international festivals, and winning the top prize in Cinefiesta, Puerto Rico's top film festival. Since then, his body of work has grown to include many award-winning commercials-winners in festivals such as Cannes Lions, Clios and El Ojo Iberamericano-, music videos and short films. Recently he directed "Tokío", a short film about the struggle of a community being evicted from a Puerto Rican slum, that went on to compete in the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Ícaro, Cinefiesta. His feature film script "Los Días Perdidos" was recently selected to be part of Ibermedia's film development program.