Talenthouse

Filmmaker

Location Uruguay, Departamento de Montevideo, Montevideo

Bio BIO Nicolás Ciganda (1977, Uruguay)
 
Nicolás Ciganda was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on June 16th, 1977. He was a big fan of movies, literature, comics and music since childhood, creating his first comics at age 8.
At 13 he performs in a musical duo called “Miami Hitcliff” with Facundo Fernandez Luna. This amateur duo has influences from authors like Leo Masliah, “Los Tontos”, “El Cuarteto de Nos” and the argentine group “Les Luthiers”.
Nicolás was a teenage DJ and co-founder of “La Hermandad” (the Brotherhood), a group of young talents which also included Martín Barea Mattos, Christian Zagia, Federico Álvarez, Román Varela, Pablo Eguez y Facundo Fernández Luna.

Between 1993 and 1999 the group performed short films, Fanzines, rock bands, pop bands and experimental music. Almost all the group members are related to the arts up to today.
Nicolás enrolls in Universidad Católica del Uruguay in 1999 attending the Social Communication degree (“Licenciatura de Comunicación Social”) and specializes in Creative Narration (“Narración Creativa”). He completes all courses in year 2002.

Filmmaking

In 1996 Nicolás co-writes and directs his first short film, “Aventuras en Shanghai 4” (Shanghai adventures 4): a low budget homage to 70’s Asian Martial Arts Movies, winner of the 5th “Video Relámpago” young talent/indie video contest organized by “Cinemateca Uruguaya” (Uruguay’s Film Library)

In 2001 makes his second short film “Un Día Mas” (Another Day) – A Science Fiction dramatic comedy about an impending doomsday.

In 2003 makes the medium length film “Cuareim 1080”, a historical documentary about the mythical “Conventillo Mediomundo”, a tenement house that was the cradle of numerous artists, musicians, actors and poets. The film “Cuareim 1080” received the Best Documentary award in the first “Festival Internacional de Escuelas de Cine” (Internacional Festival of Movie Schools), organized by ECU and “Cinemateca Uruguaya”. The film competed with documentaries from more than 20 countries.

In 2004 writes and directs his third short film, the internationally awarded “El Gol de Morena” (Morena’s goal), a black comedy about the passion of soccer fans. “El Gol de Morena” was one of the winners of the “Shoot Goals, Shoot Movies” event organized by the International Berlin Movie Festival (Berlinale) and FIFA for the 2006 Germany World Cup. The film had its premiere at the 52nd Berlinale in Berlin, Germany on February 16th, 2005.
The winner films were amalgamated into the film “Das runde in eckige” which was exhibited on TV (Germany, France, Mexico, Brazil), Movie theathers and Goethe centers worldwide. “Das runde in eckige” had an estimated 50 million viewers worldwide.

In May 2010 the musical short film “Despedida” starring the musician Juan Ravioli has its premiere at Buenos Aires, Argentina. The movie was filmed in Montevideo with RedCAM format, based on a story created by Juan Ravioli and Nicolás Ciganda.
The clip was put in rotation on MTV, Much Music and was selected for the prestigious website 2pause.com

In September 2010 is the Buenos Aires premiere of “Perdido (Perro de Casa)” a second clip by the argentine musician Juan Ravioli

Currently Nicolás is working in the production of the documentary “En fin … La mojigata” a musical documentary about the artistic group “La Mojigata” from its beginnings to today.

Is working in the script of his feature film: "El corto ganador"

In December 2010 is selected to be a feature artist of Talenthouse

In January of 2012 is selected by McCann Erickson Uruguay to be the director of the new commercial for Coca Cola in Uruguay.

Filmmaking Awards

National

• “Aventuras en Shanghai 4” (1996) – Winner 5th Edition of “Video Relámpago” – organized by Cinemateca Uruguaya

International – Movie Schools

• “Un Día mas” (2001) – Awards at the “Encuentro de Universidades del Mercosur 2000”, (Meeting of Mercosur Universities 2000) held in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Montevideo, Uruguay
• “Cuareim 1080” (2003) – Winner Best Documentary in the “Primer Festival Internacional de Escuelas de Cine” (First International Movie Schools Festival) organized by ECU and Cinemateca Uruguaya.

International

• “El Gol de Morena” (2005), Berlinale (International Berlin Movie Festival), Berlin, Germany. Selected as one of the winners of the “Shoot Goals, Shoot Movies” contest. Short film makes the Official Selection among more than 700 contestants.

Theater

Nicolás has performed audiovisuals, photography, design, art and sound in more than 20 theater plays since 2002.
Nicolás has also co-authored theater plays, starting with "Criaturas del Infierno" of Christian Zagia (2009).

Theater Awards

"Florencio" Awards and Nominations
Florencio Awards are the highest recognition in the Uruguayan Theater.

• Winner "Mejor Espectáculo Infantil" (Best Child Play) "La Isla del Tesoro" (2005) - Winner (Soundrack Production, Art, Photography)
• Nominated "Mejor Texto de Autor Nacional" (Best Script from National Author Adult Play) "Criaturas del Infierno", (Co-Writer)
• Winner "Mejor Espectáculo" (Best Child Play) "R&J Mutantes" (2010) (Art, Photography)

Other Florencio nominations as collaborator
In total, Nicolás has worked in theater plays that have more than 25 nominations in different categories.

Other Theater Awards
Winner - Best Play "Criaturas del Infierno" (2009) - "A Escena" new talent contest of Uruguay's Ministerio de Educación (Education Ministry)

Advertising

Nicolás starts working in “Transparente Films” productions in 2005. He starts directing commercials in the Postproduction and Animation area (2d Animation, Cartoon and Stop-Motion)
He starts directing commercials in 2007, he has already directed more than 50 commercial spots.

Advertising Awards and Nominations

• In 2008, two different spots of his campaign for Cáritas Uruguay (JWT Advertising Agency) were selected at the “Ojo de Iberoamérica” Advertising Award Event in Buenos Aires, The spots were selected for the “Bien Público” (Public good) category. The spot “Calle” was selected as finalist while “Inundación” was included in the Long List. Nicolás was one of the Top 4 Uruguayan directors in the event.
• The same campaign would be recognized with the “Balero de Plata” award at the “Desachate” contest (“Desachate” is an annual event for the advertising agencies of Uruguay)
• The “Campaña del abrigo 2008” campaign for the “Montevideo Shopping” company was one of the winners of the Effie awards to “Eficacia Publicitaria” (Advertising Efficacy). Nicolás Ciganda directed the TV Spot of the campaign.
• “Campana de oro” award for the spot “Haneke” for the Larsen Agency. In this spot Nicolás directed actor Horacio Camandule, star of the movie “Gigante”. The “Campana de oro” is the highest recognition for advertising in Uruguay.

Influences Robert Altman, Eric Rohmer, Woody Allen, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Steven Spielberg, Ettore Scola, Jim Jarmusch, Clint Eastwood, François Truffaut, Hal Hartey, Takeshi Kitano, Alexander Payne, Win Wenders, Aki Kaurismaki, Patrice Leconte, Alfonso Cuarón, Alex de la Iglesia, Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola, Rob Zombie, Pedro Almodovar, Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa, Luis Buñuel, Wes Anderson, Alain Resnais, Alan Rudolph, Pablo Trapero, David Lynch, Zhang Yimou, Tim Burton, Quentin Tarantino, Akira Kurosawa, David Fincher, Raúl Perrone, Paul Thomas Anderson, Adolfo Aristarain, Terry Gilliam, Fabian Bielinsky, George Lucas, Monty Python, Stanley Kubrick, Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll, Diego Fernandez, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Fosse, Brian de Palma, Emir Kusturica, Jeunet & Caró, Alejandro González Iñarritu, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Loyd, Wes Craven, Richard Lester, Richard Donner, John Casavettes, John Houston, Mario Monicelli, Paul Verhoeven, John Carpenter, Frank Capra, Stephen Frears and many more.

• http://vimeo.com/user1300323
• http://www.youtube.com/MonoRen...
• Transparente.com.uy