Angélica Lainez is a passionate filmmaker, photographer and screenwriter with a particular interest in sensitive stories that comes from everyday life. She began as a Filmmaker with the student fiction short film Twenty Two (2016) and the documentary short film The Last Home of the Panela (2017). She has worked for various production companies in the areas of: directing assistance, screenwriting production and scouting.

Between 2020 and 2022, she completed a Master's Degree in Screenwriting at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR - Spain) and a diplomat in Direction of Photography at the Ibero-American Center for Photo and Cinema (CIBEF - Mexico).

In 2021, she began the development of her feature film project Guts and in 2022 she worked as executive producer of the fiction short film Back to Las Maravillas, official selection at the Locarno Film Festival (2024).

Her most recent work as screenwriter and director is the short film Guts (2023), winner of the 'I decide' contest, developed by Equis Foundation and Planned Parenthood Global.

Since 2017 she has been director of the cultural center Butaca Paradiso (@butacaparadiso), dedicated to managing activities related to cinema and audiovisual arts. Lights, Camera, Action! (@camarasbutacaaccion) is her most notable project within this cultural center, winner of the Municipality of Guayaquil’s Culture Challenge contest (2020). This is a film training program for children and young people where she’s performed as a director, teacher and script and production consultant.

Education

Body of work

2024

Driven

2024

Así somos - New York Latino Film

Festival Trailer

2023

Guts

Wayne, a young black man, must learn to drive ​stick within 24 hours to get a delivery driver job ​that’s crucial to supporting his new family.

Roles: assistant director and art assistant.

Project in post-production stage.

This year’s NYLFF trailer is committed to ​demonstrate that nothing can be done without ​community.

Role: production assistant.

Watch full commercial here

Ana (17) and her sister Camila (12) have always ​been together. It is the first time that Camila ​notices that her sister is pregnant. But the ​discovery of these changes in her body will not be ​kind or happy.

Roles: screenwriter, director and art assistant.

Watch full short film here.

2022

Back to Las Maravillas

2020

The Estuary

2021

Blessed Marriage

Leo (27) returns to Las Maravillas, his mining town in southern Ecuador, because Tiberio (60s), his macho father, is dying. Returning reunites him with Ricardo (27), a miner who was his first love and also confronts his true identity with his father. As he navigates the reunion and the farewell, Clarita (45), a trans woman and Shaman, will teach him that we are more than what we can see.

Roles: executive producer, crowdfunding campaign coordinator.

Alberto Cárdenas, an optometrist who loves boat racing, is looking for a solution to settle a large debt he owes to a lender. After the sudden death of the usurer, the person in charge of the collection will be his older brother, Germán, a violent man who has just been released from the penitentiary.

Roles: production assistant.

Marriage is a roller coaster of emotions. Three married couples, with generational differences, comically show what a marriage is like over time.

Roles: assistant director.

2017

The Last Home of the Panela

About twelve hours of crossing are required to reach the last home of the panela. Froilán Masache and Isabel Pardo welcome you to a secret paradise in the south of Ecuador, in Cariamanga, Loja. This is his kingdom, the fruit of dozens of years of work. Froilán and his wife Isabel have a lonely life, but they have the peace they need.

Roles: director, screenwriter and producer.

Watch full short film here.

Accolades

2016

Twenty Two

i decide contest

equis foundation

official selection

Guts (2023)

locarno

film festival

official selection

Back to Las Maravillas (2022)

Every September 22, Amelia remembers her dead husband with a daisy, a half-consumed candle and the same very Italian theme by Tino Rossi. But this anniversary would be different, she receives news of possible clues that could help her reveal the mystery behind her murderer.

Roles: director and screenwriter.

Watch full short film here.