San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Alejandro Springall

Born in Mexico City, January 12, 1966, Alejandro Springall studied Drama at the National University of Mexico, and then studied filmmaking at the London Film School. While in London he worked on 3 documentaries about the Cocaine War in Colombia for the BBC and Channel Four TV.

He returned to Mexico City in 1991 to co-produce Cronos (Dir. Guillermo del Toro, 1992), which won the Critic's Award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and nine awards from the Mexican Academy, including Best Picture. Springall then produced Dollar Mambo (Dir. Paul Leduc, 1993), which premiered at San Sebastian Film Festival.

In 1994, he line produced Someone Else's America (Dir. Goran Paskaljevic). That same year he produced the TV series En Guadalajara Fue and directed the series Jalisco: Tiempo De Decisiones which won First Prize at the Latin American Biennale three times in a row. In 1995, Springall produced De Tripas, Corazon (Dir. Antonio Urrutia), which was nominated in the Best Short category of the Oscars. In 1996 he founded Springall Pictures, his production company.

His feature directing debut, Santitos, was completed in 1999 and has received 17 major international awards, with major distribution in Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia. In 2001, Springall Pictures provided all production services in Mexico for Frida (directed by Julie Taymor). In 2002, Springall produced Casa De Los Babys, directed by John Sayles and starring Darryl Hannah, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Steenburgen, Lili Taylor, Rita Moreno and Maggie Gyllenhaal. On September 15, 2003, Springall produced and directed the grand concert of Chavela Vargas at Carnegie Hall and again in 2004 at the Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires. My Mexican Shivah is his latest film.

Alejandro will be in attendance in San Francisco screening.