Carolina Rivas

Carolina Rivas is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. Following her short film Zona Cero (Mexico, 2003) - which was selected by the Cannes Film Festival, 2003 - Rivas has gone on to win international recognition and a number of awards. She studied at the CUEC film school and at the Writers' School, both in Mexico City. She also studied theatre and Butoh dance. Rivas is the author of the book Film Step by Step: A Method of Self-Knowledge, published in Mexico in 2010. She is a founding member of Creadores Contemporáneos, a production company founded in Mexico in 2008 by her and Daoud Sarhandi. To date, Rivas and Sarhandi have produced three feature-length films: The Colour of Olives (Carolina Rivas, Mexico-Palestine, 2006); Lessons for Zafirah (Carolina Rivas and Daoud Sarhandi, Mexico, 2011); 1 for 1 (Mexico-Spain, 2013). The Colour of Olives won a total of seven prizes; among these are: Best Documentary Direction, Golden Minbar, Russia (2007); Artistic Vision, Big Sky Documentary Festival, USA (2006); Courage in Filmmaking, Women Film Critics' Circle Awards, USA (2006). Lessons for Zafirah won a total of eight prizes; among these are: Best Mexican Film, FICUNAM, Mexico (2007); Best International Documentary (3rd prize), Cine Pobre Festival, Cuba (2012); Best Documentary, Latin American Film Festival van Vlaanderen, Belgium (2013); Young Jury Prize, Anûû-rû âboro, New Caledonia (2012).