Pineda, Samantha

She studied Communication Sciences and Filmmaking at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), Mexico City; Film and Literature at the Essex University in Colchester, Great Britain; she assisted a documentary production workshop at the International School of Film and TV (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba; and she took the Advanced Diploma of Screen, with a specialization in screenwriting and directing at the International Film School Sydney (IFSS), Australia. In 2004, her short film 2 treinta y cinco pm was selected at the International Film Festival of Women, in Mexico; this film was followed by Yo soy Tico (2008) and Chocolate Candy (2010). In 2009, she was recognized by the Australian press as one of the Mexican women film directors to keep track of. In 2012, she presented El pescador in the Official Selection of the 9th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), where it received a Special Mention. El pescador was also nominated for the Ariel Award for Best Short Fiction Film and it was selected in more than 45 international festivals, including the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Chicago Latino International Film Festival. In 2013, the Toronto Urban Film Festival selected her work Luminoso. In 2015, she participated in the Berlinale Talents which took place in the 31st edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG). In 2016, Ascensión, her first animated short film, was selected at the 14th edition of FICM, as well as in the Macabro International Film Festival and the Shorts Mexico international film festival. She is currently working on the post-production of Happiness, her most recent work, and in production of her first feature film, Pequeño suicidio. The screenplay of Pequeño suicidio was selected for the Oaxaca Screenwriting Lab and the Young Creators scholarship by the Mexican National Fund for Culture and Arts (Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, FONCA).