photo by Rebecca Lipman

Mauro Mueller {Writer/Director} is a young independent Mexican/Swiss filmmaker who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish literature and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and is currently in his final year of the M.F.A. program in filmmaking (directing/scriptwriting) at Columbia University in New York City.

While at Columbia, Mauro worked as a teaching assistant to Richard Peña and David Sterritt. He has directed five short films, written three feature lengths scripts, produced various short films for fellow classmates, and helped on dozens of productions in other capacities.

He is a recipient of various fellowships at Columbia U. and the Phi Kappa Phi fellowship as well as a recipient of the James Bridges Development Award for Excellence in Directing Actors, a $10'000 USD award.

Mauro's short films have played at festivals around the globe (Hong Kong, Singapore, Starz Denver, Huesca, Brooklyn, Santa Monica, Ireland, Sinaloa, etc.), and have won numerous awards (CINE Golden Eagle Award, best student short Las Vegas IFF, Gold Kahuna Award Honolulu IFF, etc.).
“The Surprise Party,” which he co-directed and produced won best picture at the Campus Movie Fest  and was screened at the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York as well as at the Paramount Studio’s Sherry Lansing Theater in Los Angeles. It has been screened in 16 countries, among them Brazil, Morocco, Romania, Palestinian territories, and Serbia.
"Ge.hen'nah", which he directed in Lebanon, stars Christine Choueiri, Boutros Rouhana, and Khitam Laham and had a successful festival run.

Mauro recently got nominated as one of ten new forces in Asian Cinema at the Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards.

His thesis film "Un mundo para Raúl" (eng. A World for Raúl) stars Alexandré Barceló, Adrian Alonso (Under the Same Moon, The Legend of Zorro), Gerardo Taracena (Apocalypto, Man on Fire, Sin Nombre), Roberto Mesa, and Adriana Paz (Rudo y Cursi, 4 Maras).

He is currently living in New York and Mexico City working as a screenwriter/director and developing two features; Santiago del otro lado about a Mexican woman who discovers that her longtime boyfriend has an affair with another man and Fingerplay about a woman confronted with her own aging, the waning desire of her husband, and an unexpected guest, a mildly mentally challenged man whom she gradually becomes sexually attracted to.

Fingerplay was part of the Script Station at the Berlinale Talent Campus 2012 and faculty selects at the 2012 Columbia University film festival.

Further, Mauro was part of the Masterclass Atelier Paris-Ludwigsburg at La Femis in Paris, a post-graduate program which is tailored around European co-production/distribution.

Mauro is founding member of Swizzo Films, LLC and part of the creative consortium Fidelio.

When not working on film projects, Mauro enjoys doing Aikido, Aikitaiso, and Karatedo.