I explore memory, territory, and the body through stories that aim to be felt as much as they are understood.
● isabel cristina fregoso
Isabel Cristina Fregoso Centeno (Mexico) is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and director whose work focuses on the exploration of historical memory, social movements, and women’s resistance against systems of power. She studied film at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC, now ENAC). Her practice blends fiction and non-fiction through an intimate perspective that bridges the political and the personal.
Her feature film La Arriera had its world premiere at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, where it received the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography, and has been selected for festivals such as the BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival and the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, in addition to receiving nominations at the Ariel Awards.
She has also developed documentary projects such as Cultiva Ciudad and the feature-length film in progress Un espíritu silvestre, supported by Filma Jalisco in 2024. She is currently working on Verena, a fiction project about a woman militant during Mexico’s “Dirty War.”
Her cinema is defined by an aesthetic search that integrates documentary elements, work with both professional and non-professional actors, and a sensitive approach to memory, the body, and territory.
Films
short film2018documentary short film2017short film2011Feature-length documentary2007Medium-length documentary2000
isabel cristina fregosoProfessional Path
A graduate of the National School of Cinematographic Arts and ITESO.
Her work has been developed in programs and labs such as the Sundance Film Institute, Cine Qua Non Lab, and Bolivia Lab.
-Narratives on identity and resistance
-Exploration of the body and desire from a female perspective
-The intersection of fiction and reality
She has built a career focused on:
Member of the Mexican Academy
of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences
(AMACC)
For multiple nominations
Ariel Award for Best Documentary
Short FilmFor Chenalhó, el corazón de los Altos
Fields of Work
memoryas something alive—fragmented and emotional
landbeyond physical space, as an experience that traverses the body
bodyas archive, threshold, and possibility of transformation
A way of doing cinemaThe intention is not only to tell stories, but to build experiences that create connections:
with those who watch them,
with the territories where they emerge,
and with the questions they leave open.