Andrés Baiz

Early life and education

Baiz was born in Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in 1975. He went on to study film production and directing at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in Film and Television with a minor in Cinema Studies and additional coursework in film theory. After graduating, he was mentored by French director Raphael Nadjari, with whom he produced four horror short films. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a director, producer and editor at the New York–based production company Centro-Films, and during the same period also wrote film criticism for Loft magazine. He additionally worked in the production departments of the feature films Bringing Out the Dead, Zoolander, Cremaster 2, Maria Full of Grace and The Fittest.^[1]

Early short films

Before moving into features, Baiz wrote and directed several short films, music videos and a documentary, including A Short Statement About War and Billions Served (1997), Mass Production (1998), the music video Yo no quiero (2000), the short film La sesión (2001), the music video Homenaje (2002), the documentary Penumbra (2004) and the music video Sin decir una palabra (2006).^[2] His short film Hoguera ("Bonfire") was selected for the Directors' Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.^[3]

Career

Satanás, Baiz's feature debut, premiered in June 2007 and starred Mexican actor Damián Alcázar. It was based on the novel by Mario Mendoza, which was itself inspired by real events at the El Pozzetto restaurant in Bogotá, where on 4 December 1986 Vietnam War veteran Campo Elías Delgado killed several people after having already murdered his mother. The film won the awards for best film and best actor at the Monte Carlo Film Festival^[4] and was invited to screen at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.^[5] The film received a mix of favourable and unfavourable reviews in Colombia.^[6]

His second feature film, The Hidden Face is based on a screenplay written by and Hatem Khraiche Ruiz-Zorrilla. The film starred Colombian actress Martina García alongside Spanish actors Quim Gutiérrez and Clara Lago.^[7]

His third film, Roa, was filmed in Bogotá and centers on Juan Roa Sierra, the man considered to have assassinated Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. The film was released on 9 April 2013 to coincide with the anniversary of Gaitán's assassination.^[8][9]

Television

Since the early 2010s Baiz has worked extensively in television, directing episodes of El cartel (2010) and Infiltrados (2011) before taking a larger role on Metástasis (2014) and serving as director and executive producer on Narcos (2015–2017) and Narcos: Mexico (2018). He later directed episodes of The Sandman (2022) and served as director and executive producer of the miniseries Griselda (2024).