Luis Mandoki

LUIS MANDOKI

Hailing from Mexico City, Mandoki attended a number of film schools including San Francisco Art Institute, London International Film School and London College School of Film. During his training in England, he directed his first film, Silent Music, and received a major award from the international Amateur Film Festival for his pains.

Completing his education, he returned to Mexico to direct several short films and documentaries. One of these, The Secret (1980), won an Ariel (Mexico's Oscar). This same year he met poet and writer Gabriela Brimmer on a talk show, and became inspired by her life overcoming cerebral palsy. The two worked together to create the feature film Gaby: A True Story (1992). Although he received no award nominations for his work, his cast and crew were awarded with numerous honors from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and the Bogota Film Festival.

In the '90s, Mandoki decided to start making American films. His first, a drama entitled White Palace, was about a young man having an affair with an older woman. Although the box office had little to show for the work accomplished, Susan Sarandon's performance was heavily praised by critics.

For the next few years he continued to work in the drama / romance genre, but met with little response from filmgoers. The 1999 film Message in a Bottle did well in the box office, but many critics found the characters difficult to identify with.

Filmography:

24 Hours (2002)
Angel Eyes (2001)
Amazing Grace (2000)
Message in a Bottle (1999)
When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
Born Yesterday (1993)
White Palace (1990)
Gaby: A True Story (1987)
Motel (1983)
Papaloapan (1982)
Mundo mágico (1980)