This young director from Caracas, Venezuela broke onto Latin American silver screens in 2013 with her first full-length film, Nena, saludáme al Diego, a comedy that follows the story of a young Venezuelan girl who, after studying journalism in Spain, returns to her country claiming she has found her true Argentinean identity. This story, eventhough highly exagerated, incorporates autobiographical aspects from Andrea Herrera Catalá’s own life.

 

Born in Caracas but raised from a young age in Paris where her parents were studying. She was taken back to Venezuela at a young age because her mother “didn’t want to raise children without a clear identity.” She worked with her mother on Venezuelan TV sets from the age of 15 knowing from a young age that she wanted to be a film-maker. She later decided to study film abroad at the University of Arcis, in Chile.

 

Her first film, however, was not her first visit to international cinema’s commercial theaters. In 2008 she colaborated with two other female directors on the film 1, 2, y 3 mujeres that is divided into three different stories. Herrera Catalá contributed Eloína, the first of the stories in the film.

 

 

 

 

Thomas J. Shalloe

Arizona State University