Patricia Riggen

Patricia Riggen
Born (1970-06-02) June 2, 1970
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Occupation Film director, film producer and screenwriter
Years active 1997–present

Patricia Riggen (born June 2, 1970) is a Mexican film director. She best known for directing the 2007 film Under the Same Moon and the 2011 Disney Channel original film Lemonade Mouth.

Early life and career beginnings

Riggen was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco.[1] While in her home country, she gained experience in journalism and writing for documentaries.[1] In Guadalajara, Riggen obtained a degree in communication sciences, worked as a journalist,[2] then later moved to New York City, where she received her Master's degree in directing and screenwriting at Columbia University.[3] While attending Columbia, she directed two short films The Cornfield (2002) and Family Portrait (2004), a documentary, the former film won a number of film festival awards.[1]

Riggen found her way into writing and producing film, though she never thought she would end up as a director, comparing the chances of landing a career as a director to the chances of landing a career as an astronaut – slim to none.[2]

Unhappy with producing, Riggen moved to New York to pursue a career in writing. She found herself as a director after directing one exercise.[2]

Directing career

In 2007, Under the Same Moon, Riggen's first major film was released, starring Kate Del Castillo and America Ferrera.[4] Riggen partnered up with writer and producer Ligiah Villabobos for the creation of La Misma Luna.[2] Riggen and Villabobos are both Mexican-born but relocated to the United States, and after taking many years to embrace their careers, they became extremely passionate about the work they produced.[2]

Funding for the binational film La Misma Luna, which was started in an American studio before Riggen made the decision to direct it independently, was done through both a fund from the Mexican government, and American financers.[2] La Misma Luna was very well received in 2007 at the Sundance festival.[2]

In 2010, she was chosen to direct the 2011 Disney Channel original film Lemonade Mouth.[5]

She also went on to direct two other feature films: Revolución (2010) and Girl in Progress (originally titled Ansiedad)[6] starring Eva Mendes and Patricia Arquette. The film was released in 2012.

Riggen's next film was The 33, a movie based on the 2010 Copiapó mining accident.[7] The movie was released in Chile in 2015.[8]

Approached in 2010 to direct The 33, Riggen recounted her satisfaction that a woman would direct a film with such masculine subject matter.[9] The 33 was shot in the Atacama Desert in Chile, as well as two mines in Columbia.[10] Filmed in real salt mines over 35 days for 14 hour days 6 days a week, Riggen’s goal was to have the cast and crew understand what being a miner is like.[9]

Personal life

She currently lives in Los Angeles.[4]

Filmography

References

  1. 1 2 3 Patricia Riggen bio at Fox Searchlight.com
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kuhn, Sarah (2008). "A Time of Renaissance" (10). Back Stage West. pp. 11–14.
  3. ↑ 25 NEW FACES OF INDEPENDENT FILM 2005 – FilmMaker magazine
  4. 1 2 Patricia Riggen: Love and Politics Under the Same Moon
  5. ↑ Disney Rocks "Lemonade Mouth"
  6. ↑ Eva Mendes Joins Ansiedad, MovieWeb.com dated January 14, 2011
  7. ↑ Mango, Agustin (8 February 2014). "Miner Drama 'The 33' Begins Filming in Chile". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Campbell, Christopher. "THE 33 TRAILER: REVISIT THE STORY OF THE CHILEAN MINING ACCIDENT". Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  9. 1 2 Coggan, Devan; McGovern, Joe; Sperling, Nicole (2015-10-30). "Oscar's Freshman Class" (1387). pp. 46–47.
  10. ↑ Oppenheimer, Jean (December 2015). "Darkest Days". American Cinematographer. pp. 64–77.

External links

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