Juan de Dios Larraín

Juan de Dios Larraín isn’t just your average film producer—he’s basically the godfather of Chilean cinema right now. Trained as a lawyer, picked up an MBA, then, instead of playing it safe, he and his brother Pablo Larraín went full throttle into the movie business. That was back in 2004 when they kicked off Fabula, which has been churning out hits ever since. We’re talking over twenty films, with the crown jewel being “A Fantastic Woman”—yeah, the one that snagged the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018. No big deal, right? Juan de Dios has a knack for variety. In 2019 alone, he dropped four films: “Mi amigo Alexis,” “Ema” (with Gael García Bernal doing his thing), Fabula’s first swing at animation with “Homeless,” and “Nobody Knows I’m Here,” which ended up on Netflix. If you’re into festival darlings, he’s got you covered—he’s been all over Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto. Remember “Gloria” with Julianne Moore? Yup, that was him too. He’s teamed up with big names—Natalie Portman in “Jackie,” Gael García Bernal in “Neruda” and “No,” and Paulina García snagging a Silver Bear for “Gloria.” Larraín also jumped into TV, putting out “La Jauría,” “El Presidente,” and “42 Días en la oscuridad,” Netflix’s first Chilean original. Basically, if something bold, weird, or award-winning is coming out of Latin America, odds are Juan de Dios and Fabula have their fingerprints all over it.