Ernesto Contreras

Born in Veracruz, Mexico, in 1969, he is a graduate from the Center for Studies in Communication Sciences and later from the University Center for Cinematographic Studies (CUEC) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 2007, his first feature, Blue Eyelids, is nominated to the Caméra d'Or of the 60th Cannes Film Festival as part of the official selection of the International Critics' Week. The film participates in many festivals and receives, among others, the award for Best Ibero-American Film, Best Screenplay and the Mezcal Award in the 22nd Guadalajara International Film Festival, the Ariel for Best First Feature and the Special Jury Award at Sundance and Miami, both in 2008. His feature documentary Being: Café Tacvba premiers in 2010, a film on the 20th anniversary of Mexico's most important rock band. And in 2015 his third film hits the theaters, The Obscure Spring, winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film and the Grand Jury Prize for Best Performance, awarded to the main cast, at the 32nd Miami International Film Festival. It also won three Ariel awards (editing, music and sound) and was nominated in seven other categories by the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences. In 2016, he directed the episode "Eroticism", starring Irène Jacob, part of the feature film Tales of Mexico, produced by Machete Producciones. His latest film, I Dream in Another Language, a project that received the Sundance Institute / Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, and supported by the National System of Creators, received the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival 2017. Alongside his filmmaking, Contreras has been General Director for documentary series for NatGeo and HBO.

Works

The Secret of the River

When a young boy arrives in a small Mexican village, an unlikely friendship blossoms with a local kid — and a dark secret seals their bond forever.

Release Date:2024-10-09

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Episode Count:8

Vote Count:123

I Have to Die Every Night

Snapshot of the sophisticated and exclusive gay nightlife of one of the most emblematic clubs in 1980s’ Mexico City, where people living under the weight of a repressive society that marginalized them felt the need to express an exacerbated sense of freedom. Through the eyes of a young man eager to explore the world and live freely in the capital city, the series recreates a slice of life and a decade that shook the world.

Release Date:2024-06-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:8

Vote Count:31

Dad or Mom

Florencia and Vicente are getting divorced. When both are promoted at their jobs, they will do anything in order to do not keep custody of their children.

Release Date:2023-11-30

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:101

Where the Tracks End

Georgina is a teacher determined to make a difference in the lives of the children she educates in the classroom of a wagon school in rural Mexico.

Release Date:2023-05-26

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Vote Count:106

Belascoaran, PI

Héctor Belascoarán leaves his corporate job and dull marriage to become an independent detective and tackle shocking criminal cases in 1970s Mexico City.

Release Date:2022-10-12

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:43

Before I Forget

Pascual León, a retired 65-year-old man, finds out how to give meaning to his last days after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's: to avenge a past crime before his memory loss erases everything that he is.

Release Date:2021-10-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:10

Vote Count:26

Impossible Things

After the death of her abusive husband, Matilde finds her new best friend in Miguel, her young, insecure, and disoriented neighbor.

Release Date:2021-06-17

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:396

Tales of Mexico

The space will be witness of dreams, hopes, disappointments and dramatic destinies of its residents, delivering an intimate human history of Mexico through the decades. La Habitación will reunite eight directors that will expose the reality of each historical period resulting in a profound and inspiring portrait of modern Mexico.

Release Date:2017-10-20

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:7

I Dream in Another Language

An indigenous language is in peril, as its last two speakers had a quarrel in the past and haven't spoken to each other in over 50 years. Martín, a young linguist, will undertake the challenge of bringing the old friends back together and convincing them to speak once again so he can obtain a recorded registration of the language and study it.

Release Date:2017-07-28

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:125

El Chapo

A look at the life of notorious drug kingpin, El Chapo, from his early days in the 1980s working for the Guadalajara Cartel, to his rise to power of during the '90s and his ultimate downfall in 2016.

Release Date:2017-04-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:32

Vote Count:1595

Everyday Heroes

Heroes Cotidianos is a series of six episodes recounting the stories of real people who happen to have become true heroes of our time and of their own communities.

Release Date:2014-11-03

Department:Crew

Job:Creator

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:1

The Obscure Spring

Igor is a plumber; Pina serves coffee. It is winter and they both deeply desire each other, but they are not free. In trying to figure out how to realize their love, she decides to make a lion costume for her little son and he decides to buy a photocopying machine for his wife. Spring will come at last and with it the consummation of love, filling their lives with hope and sex.

Release Date:2014-10-21

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:82

The Convict Patient

On February th 1970, Carlos Castañeda de la Fuente tried to assassinate the Mexican President to avenge the Tlatelolco massacre from October 2nd 1968, defying the most repressive regime in the contemporary Mexican history. Forty years later, this failed avenger survived the system´s disproportionate retaliation, only to wander Mexico City´s streets as a vagrant.

Release Date:2012-10-04

Department:Editing

Job:Editor

Continue Being: Café Tacvba

A rock band traveling many places of the world, and on planes, buses, in hotels and dressing rooms we discover the creative process that brings them together, their friendship, frustrations and the desire of still being a rock band, the most important rock band in Mexico, on the year that they celebrate 20 years of being Café Tacvba.

Release Date:2010-11-12

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:8

Blue Eyelids

Marina wins a paradise vacation for two, but when she realizes that she has no one to bring along, she decides to invite a stranger named Victor. The pair soon discovers that true love depends more on compatibility rather than idyllic scenery.

Release Date:2007-04-02

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:26

The Miracle

A miracle is about to happen, Margarita, like everyone wants to attend, but Alfonso, her husband, believes that everything is a sham.

Release Date:2003-10-28

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Los No Invitados

After years of suffering from a sleep disorder, Asunción turns to a specialist who will help her discover the causes of her insomnia.

Release Date:2003-10-04

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Conversando con Cristina Pacheco

Release Date:1997-09-26

Character:Ernesto Contreras

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:2