Patricia Riggen (born June 2, 1970) is a Mexican film director. She is best known for directing the 2007 film Under the Same Moon and the 2011 Disney Channel original film Lemonade Mouth. Riggen was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco. While in her home country, she gained experience in journalism and writing for documentaries. Riggen obtained a degree in Communication Sciences from ITESO (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente), Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara. Her thesis work was titled "Female Directors" and allowed her to interview the four important female film directors in Mexico at the time. Riggen had many jobs up and into her early 20s, she worked as a writer for her local Guadalajara newspaper, worked for producer Bertha Navarro, and collected research on the death industry for a Guillermo Del Toro documentary. In the late 90s, while working as Production Vice President of the short films department at the Mexican Film Institute, Riggen realized she wanted to go back to school. She moved to New York City, where she received her master's degree in directing and screenwriting at Columbia University. Riggen noted, "I had to write and direct all my exercises and English is not my first language, so I started writing all these little movies that had no dialogue". While attending Columbia, she directed two short films The Cornfield (2002) and Family Portrait (2004), a documentary, the former film won several film festival awards. Family Portrait went on to win the Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking. Riggen found her way into writing and producing film, though she never thought she would end up as a director, comparing the chances of landing a career as a director to the chances of landing a career as an astronaut – slim to none. Unhappy with producing, Riggen moved to New York to pursue a career in writing. She found herself as a director after directing one exercise.
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Biography from TMDB.
- June 2, 1970 (56)
- Guadalajara, Messico
- Director and producer, also actor
- 13 on MovieCove · 21 credits in all
What are Patricia Riggen's films like?
Across their 9 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Society.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 8
Light 3 · Serious 4 · Dark 1
A split, not a type: Grounded 5 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 1
Gentle 1 · Charged 5 · Intense 2
Steady 5 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 4 · Some laughs 4 · Funny 0
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 4 · Relentless 1
A split, not a type: Casual 3 · Engaged 5 · Full focus 0
A split, not a type: Easy watch 3 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 3
Resolved 8 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy5
- Bittersweet4
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 Patricia Riggen's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 10 of their 13 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Hulu (3).
Subscription and free streaming for Patricia Riggen'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
21 credits, 13 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
G20(2025)
Midcredits score: 21st percentile of all films
Saint X(2023)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 44th percentile of all films
Alaska Daily(2022)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all shows
Alien (The Other) (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)
Dopesick(2021)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all shows
Little America(2020)
Midcredits score: 66th percentile of all shows
Proven Innocent (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2019)
Jack Ryan(2018)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all shows
Run for Your Life (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)
Miracles from Heaven(2016)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films
The 33(2015)
Midcredits score: 71st percentile of all films
Girl in Progress(2012)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
Lemonade Mouth(2011)
Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all films
Revolución (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
Under the Same Moon(2007)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all films
Family Portrait (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
La milpa (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all showsNo Support (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Degeneration (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Career shape
A full career of 21 titles from 1998 to 2025.
Biggest box office
Miracles from Heaven (2016)
Highest rated
Under the Same Moon (2007)
Most popular right now
Saint X (2023)
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.
Awards
1 major award from 2 major nominations, 2005–2012.
- Directors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs
- Sundance award, won
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Patricia Riggen's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 71st percentile, the median of all 7; across their 8 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 68th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up7
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
6 of their 13 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved3
- Crowd Pleaser6
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the atmosphere 59/100 and the pacing 46/100 in their films, across 7 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
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.
Is Patricia Riggen's work okay for kids?
Across up to 7 MovieCove titles with content scores, sex & nudity runs lighter than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Patricia Riggen work with?
People who share at least 2 of Patricia Riggen's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Checco Varese shares the most, 4.
Actors
- Eugenio DerbezShared titles: Miracles from Heaven (2016), Girl in Progress (2012), Under the Same Moon (2007)See all 3 shared titles with Eugenio Derbez
- Kate del CastilloShared titles: The 33 (2015), Under the Same Moon (2007)See all 2 shared titles with Kate del Castillo
- Naomi ScottShared titles: The 33 (2015), Lemonade Mouth (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Naomi Scott
Composers and cinematographers
- Checco VareseShared titles: G20 (2025), Girl in Progress (2012), Lemonade Mouth (2011), Under the Same Moon (2007)See all 4 shared titles with Checco Varese
- Christopher LennertzShared titles: Girl in Progress (2012), Lemonade Mouth (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Christopher Lennertz
Producers
- Lorenzo O'BrienShared titles: Saint X (2023), Under the Same Moon (2007)See all 2 shared titles with Lorenzo O'Brien
