Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas
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Laura Amelia Guzmán (born May 7, 1980) and Israel Cárdenas (born February 15, 1980) are a husband and wife directorial team.
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Early life
Guzmán was born in the Dominican Republic to parents who worked as art directors.[1][2] She initially worked as a cinematographer before turning to directing.
Cárdenas was born and raised in Mexico.[3]
Filmmaking career
Since 2007, Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas have run the production company Aurora Dominicana based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. [4][5][6]
Guzmán and Cárdenas began their directing and producing career in 2007 with their movie Cochochi.[7][8]
In 2010 they co-directed the movie Jean Gentil which caught the attention of actress Geraldine Chaplin. They produced the film with their company Aurora Dominicana. [9][10]
In 2013, they expanded to create a post-production studio also based in the Dominican Republic called Aurora Color Post. [11]
After hearing Chaplin's warm praise of their film they decided to offer her a role in their next film Sand Dollars, also produced by their company. After Chaplin agreed to appear in a small role the couple decided to rewrite the male main characters to be women in order to give Chaplin a larger role.[12] The film was chosen as the Dominican Republic's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015 but did not make the shortlist.[13][14]
In 2016 Guzmán announced she was directing a sequel to Sand Dollars called Noeli Overseas.[15] The final film premiered in the Dominican Republic in 2018 and was credited to both Guzmán and Cárdenas.
Their film Holy Beasts premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival.[16] The film starred Geraldine Chaplin and Udo Kier as fictional friends assembling to film the lost screenplay of real-life Dominican screenwriter Jean-Louis Jorge who was murdered in 2000.[17][18]
Filmography
- Cochochi (2007)
- Jean Gentil (2010)
- Sand Dollars (2014)
- Noeli Overseas (2016) (Guzmán only)
- Golden Boys (2016) [19]
- Holy Beasts (2019)