Mario Alejandro Arias

Mario Alejandro Arias started making short films when he was in his teenage years. After graduating high school he took a gap year, worked at a sushi place in Washington DC for 4 months, then travelled from Quito to Buenos Aires by bus. During this 5 month trip he decided to study filmmaking. He received a scholarship from the ECAM (Escuela de Cinematografía y del Audiovisual de la Comunidad de Madrid) and moved to Madrid, Spain. Here he specialized in Documentary Filmmaking, where he was taught by filmmakers like Lois Patiño, Luis Lopez Carrasco, Chema García Ibarra, amongst others. During his second year in film school he wrote, shot and edited "It's just a burning memory". His final film school project, a feature length film called "To Have Time" premiered at the Festival de Málaga in official competition, and is currently in its festival route. The film was also selected at the D'A Film Festival in Barcelona, Atlántida Film fest, Visions du Reel market... He graduated first of his class, and is currently in post production of a fiction short film, a love story called "Que Calor hará sin vos en verano" which will be ready by winter 2022. His films swim between fiction and non-fiction, always working with non-actors, writing for friends and new acquaintances, adapting stories for real people. Many of his works are often autobiographical.

Born: March 23, 1999 (Age 25) in Quito, Ecuador