Nicolás López
López in 2015
Born	(1983-03-16)16 March 1983 (age 42) Santiago, Chile
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter, producer
Website	sobras.com

Nicolás Javier López Fernández (born 16 March 1983) is a Chilean film director screenwriter and producer. He is known for comedies such asPromedio Rojo (2004), theQué pena trilogy (2010–2012), and thePaz Bascuñán vehiclesSin filtro (2016) andNo estoy loca (2018).

López became interested in filmmaking at a young age. After readingRobert Rodriguez'sRebel Without a Crew (1995) and watchingKevin Smith'sClerks (1994), he began experimenting with his family's video camera. By the age of 12, he was already writing a column forEl Mercurio, one of the most prestigious and conservative right-wing Chilean newspapers. His column, "Memorias de un Pingüino" ("Memories of a Penguin"), ran from 1997 to 1999 and described the life of a student, commonly known as a "penguin" in Chile because of the typical black and white uniform. The comments he made in the column led to him being expelled from school. At the age of 14, after his expulsion, he began a new column called "López" with a more mature style.^[1]

At the age of 15, López made his debut at theValdivia Film Festival^[2] with the short filmPajero ("wanker"), which tells the story of a teenager constantly interrupted during masturbation. The next year he filmedSuperhéroes, the story of a teenager who tries to convince people that he is a superhero, and in 2000 he filmedFlorofilia, a love story between a man and a plant. He became partner and co-founder of sobras.com, a website about cinema, television, books, comics and video games that focused on young audiences. He then founded the first independent film festival in Santiago, the "Sobras Independent Film Festival", as well as Sobras.com Producciones, a film production company. As associate producer, López took charge of the marketing ofJorge Olguín's horror movieÁngel Negro in 2000, and the adult animationCesante ("unemployed"), which he co-wrote. He also ran the marketing for other Chilean films such as Olguín'sSangre Eterna (2002) andOrlando Lübbert'sTaxi para tres (2001). He co-directed many music videos, and won anMTV Latin Music Award in 2002 for "Mujer Robusta" bySinergia. He co-wrote the 2003 edition of theMTV Latin Music Award and, also in 2003, he directed, co-wrote and acted in an absurd comedy series for the same network, calledPiloto MTV, along with Eduardo Bertrán.

At the age of 20, López directed his first feature film,Promedio Rojo (2004), an absurdist romantic comedy about teenagenerds, in which the main character slips in and out of reality, with the 'unreal' scenes animated. He won the special jury prize at theViña del Mar International Film Festival, and featured in theMar del Plata International Film Festival andLA Film Fest. Although the film was criticized in his native country, it caught the attention of international directors and other industry personalities includingSalma Hayek,Alfonso Cuaron,Alejandro González Iñárritu andGuillermo del Toro.^[3] In 2005, and with a bigger budget, López began working onSantos,^[4] a film about a failed comic artist. Released in 2008, the film was poorly received by critics and did not fulfill its financial expectations. In 2010, after the failure ofSantos, López wrote and directed his highest-grossing film yet,Qué pena tu vida, spawning two sequels and building a cast of regular actors such asAriel Levy,Paz Bascuñán,Lorenza Izzo,Andrea Velasco,Ignacia Allamand, Nicolás Martínez, Ramón Llao and Alison Mandel.

In 2012, López partnered with the American directorEli Roth to releaseAftershock, a Chilean-Americandisaster movie loosely inspired by events that took place during the2010 Chile earthquake. It was López's first English-language film and was produced for his company Sobras, by Roth, Miguel Asensio andBrian Oliver. The movie debuted at theToronto International Film Festival.^[5] Following the box-office underperformance ofAftershock,The Green Inferno (2013) andKnock, Knock (2015), López put his "Chilewood" ambitions with Roth on hold and returned to bawdy comedy, scoring huge hits withSin filtro (2016),Hazlo como hombre (2017) andNo estoy loca (2018).

On 30 June 2018, eight Chilean actresses and models accused López ofsexual harassment andworkplace bullying.^[6] The following day,Netflix announced it was putting its deal with Sobras "under review" and López himself posted a video online stating he was resigning from Sobras and that he would defend himself against the allegations: "I don't understand what is happening nor the break in my years-long relationships of trust and affection. If I sometimes have been misunderstood, I apologize. But I'm not a stalker nor an abuser."^[7] On 26 April 2022, López was found guilty of sexual abuse,^[8] and on 16 May was sentenced to five years and one day in prison.^[9][10] However, a few days later, theSupreme Court of Chile modified the sentence to three years and one day ofprobation.^{[citation needed]}

Sitges – Catalan International Film Festival

• Nominated, Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver, Official Fantàstic Panorama Selection,Mis peores amigos: Promedio Rojo, El regreso (2013)
• Nominated, Maria, Best Motion Picture,Aftershock (2012)

Tokyo International Film Festival

• Nominated, Tokyo Grand Prix,Promedio Rojo (2004)

Viña del Mar International Film Festival

• Won, Special Jury Award,Promedio Rojo (2004)

• Mujer robusta –Sinergia, with Eduardo Bertrán (2002)
• Concurso – Sinergia, with Eduardo Bertrán (2002)
• Chilerobot – Sinergia, with Eduardo Bertrán (2003)
• Te quiero ver muerta – Tiro Al Aire, with Eduardo Bertrán
• Traigo el aguante – Santo Barrio, with Eduardo Bertrán (2002)
• Toma lo que quieras – Claudio Quiñones, with Eduardo Bertrán

• Cinema of Chile

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNicolás López.

• Nicolás López atIMDb 
• Nicolás López' production company
• Nicolás López datasheet at Cinechile

• Chilean film directors
• Chilean film producers
• Living people
• Chilean screenwriters
• Chilean male screenwriters
• Chilean male film actors
• Chilean male comedians
• Chilean television personalities
• 1983 births
• Mass media people from Santiago, Chile
• Chilean male television actors
• People convicted of sexual assault

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