Israel Cárdenas
Israel CÁRDENAS (1980, Mexico) is a filmmaker, screenwriter and cinematographer who has worked on several feature films. Alongside filmmaker Laura Amelia Guzmán, he co-directed Cochochi (2007) and Jean Gentil (2010), both of which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Their documentary Carmita (2013) premiered at FICUNAM, and Dólares de Arena (Sand Dollars, 2014), starring Geraldine Chaplin, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, receiving multiple international awards. Their latest feature project, Interior Apartment Day (2025), paints a portrait of a young creative couple as they strive to make life decisions in tandem.
Filmography
Cochochi (2007, co-dir), Jean Gentil (2010, co-dir), Carmita (2013, co-dir), Dólares de arena/Sand Dollars (2014, co-dir), Interior. Apartamento – Día/Interior Apartment Day (2025)
Israel Cárdenas at IFFR
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Interior apartamento día
Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán | 91' | Dominican Republic | European premiere
A couple faces creative and romantic challenges after moving to an idyllic beach house. -
Sand Dollars
Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas | 85' | Dominican Republic | No premiere
Sand Dollars is a portrait of the complex romance between Anne and Noéli. A loving film about holidays, pleasure, loneliness and morality. -
Croma Kid
Pablo Chea | 92' | Dominican Republic | World premiere
After Emi transports his parents to another dimension, he must find a way to bring them home. -
La hembrita
90' | Dominican Republic | World premiere
An unfulfilled upper-class Dominican woman finds herself unexpectedly responsible for her maid’s granddaughter. -
Cochochi
Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde | 87' | Canada | None
Beautifully photographed fable about the issue of integrating or holding on to cultural identity. First steps in the adult world of two Mexican brothe -
Sand Dollars
Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde | 85' | Argentina | None
The European woman Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) is enjoying a luxurious stay on the coast of the Dominican Republic. Young Noéli makes a living from relat -
Los últimos cristeros
Matías Meyer | 90' | Mexico | European première
The eternal battle between worldly rulers and believers resulted in the 1930s in Mexico in a bloody rebellion by the so-called Christeros. Meyer (Wadl -
Ocaso
Théo Court | 80' | Chile | International premiere
With the eye of a practised photographer, the debutant Court makes an atmospheric elegy for an unnecessary person. In a derelict mansion in the misty -
Jean Gentil
84' | Dominican Republic | None
The journey by the Haitian Jean Remy Genty, a French teacher looking for work in the Dominican Republic, takes him from the urban bustle to… -
Pierdete entre los muertos
61' | Mexico | World premiere
An elderly comedian is buried up to his neck in the Mexican desert. A young, bitter woman threatens to pulp his head with a nail…