Issa López is a Mexican director, writer and producer. Twelve Spanish language features have been produced from her scripts, four of them directed by herself. She has won several literary awards, including the National Novel Award granted by Mexico's Institute of Fine Arts and Literature in 2007. In 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven in Spanish) premiered at Fantastic Fest, in Austin, Texas. Written and directed by López, the film received the Best Horror Director Award, and went on to collect fifty-one awards in film festivals around the world, three Diosas de Plata, including Best Picture and Best Director, and received ten Ariel Awards nominations, of which it won two. The film earned multiple positive reviews by major trades and critics, and a rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Currently, López is developing projects with Guillermo del Toro, Noah Hawley and Jason Blum. She directed and co-wrote all episodes of the fourth installment of HBO's TV series True Detective, which aired in January and February of 2024, as True Detective: Night Country. Description above from the Wikipedia article Issa López, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Writer, director and producer
- 13 on MovieCove · 20 credits in all
What are Issa López's films like?
Across their 9 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 8
Light 6 · Serious 2 · Dark 1
Grounded 7 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 5 · Charged 2 · Intense 2
A split, not a type: Steady 5 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 1
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 3 · Funny 4
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 7 · Relentless 0
Casual 6 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 6 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 2
Resolved 7 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy4
- Bittersweet4
- Ambiguous1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Issa López's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 10 of their 13 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Issa López's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
20 credits, 13 with a MovieCove page.
Noche De Bodas(2024)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all films
Something in the Dirt(2022)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all films
Everything's Gone Wrong! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)
La boda de Valentina(2018)
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all films
Tigers Are Not Afraid(2017)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
600 Miles(2015)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
A la mala(2015)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
True Detective(2014)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all shows
Pulling Strings(2013)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
Class Trip (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Speed of Glory(2010)
Midcredits score: 21st percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Casi divas (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)
Bad Girls(2007)
Midcredits score: 37th percentile of all films
Secondary Effects(2006)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
Ladies' Night (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Midcredits score: 56th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
First Love(2000)
Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all shows
Labyrinth of Passion (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)
Lost Souls (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
The Girl with a Thousand Names (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 19 titles, 17 of them dated from 1999 to 2024.
Film career
- 2022Screen debut· Something in the Dirt
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Issa López's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 43rd percentile, the median of all 11; across their 9 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 49th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 50th to 74th5
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
8 of their 13 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved1
- Divisive1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser2
- Mixed8
Reviewers score the dialogue 46/100 and the plot and story 44/100 in their films, across 7 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Issa López work with?
People who share at least 2 of Issa López's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Camilo Abadía shares the most, 3.
Directors
- Pitipol YbarraShared titles: A la mala (2015), Pulling Strings (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Pitipol Ybarra
Writers
- Gabriel RipsteinShared titles: 600 Miles (2015), Pulling Strings (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Gabriel Ripstein
Actors
- Omar ChaparroShared titles: La boda de Valentina (2018), Pulling Strings (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Omar Chaparro
- Tony DaltonShared titles: La boda de Valentina (2018), Secondary Effects (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Tony Dalton
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Camilo AbadíaShared titles: Noche De Bodas (2024), A la mala (2015), Pulling Strings (2013)See all 3 shared titles with Camilo Abadía
- Fernando EscalanteShared titles: La boda de Valentina (2018), A la mala (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Fernando Escalante
- Rodrigo DávilaShared titles: La boda de Valentina (2018), A la mala (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Rodrigo Dávila
- Fido Pérez-GavilánShared titles: A la mala (2015), Pulling Strings (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Fido Pérez-Gavilán
Producers
- Monica Vargas CelisShared titles: Noche De Bodas (2024), Pulling Strings (2013), Secondary Effects (2006)See all 3 shared titles with Monica Vargas Celis
- Juan Manuel BorbollaShared titles: Noche De Bodas (2024), Secondary Effects (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Juan Manuel Borbolla
- Carlos TaiboShared titles: La boda de Valentina (2018), Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Carlos Taibo
- Marco Polo ConstandseShared titles: La boda de Valentina (2018), Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Marco Polo Constandse
