Alejandro Monteverde was born and raised in the Mexican town of Tampico, Tamaulipas. In 1999, he entered the University of Texas film school, where he won an unprecedented number of film festivals for an undergraduate student filmmaker.
Monteverde’s first film, Bocho, shot in 16mm with no budget in Alejandro’s spare time as a student, won a Kodak Awards for Excellence in Cinematography Award and several international film festival awards. His student demo reel was so impressive, that Kodak and Panavision both awarded him with sponsorships to shoot Waiting for Trains. (filmed in New York the week of 9-11), which won major awards in International film festivals.
Following his graduation from UT, Monteverde produced several award-winning films, commercials, and music videos. Committed to projects that entertain, engage and inspire, Alejandro’s inaugural project 2006’s “Bella” established him as one to watch in Hollywood.
Bella Selected Awards
Bella took the “People’s Choice Award” at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.
Bella’s filmmakers received the Smithsonian Institution‘s “Legacy Award” for the film’s positive contribution to Latino art and culture. “This movie depicts the culture but also transcends it,” said Pilar O’Leary, executive director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Latino Center. “It has universal appeal.”
Bella also received the Tony Bennett Media Excellence Award. The film moved Tony Benett to shower the work with major praise:
Bella is a perfect film, an artistic masterpiece that will live in people’s hearts forever…
– Tony Bennet
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Film and Broadcasting rated Bella as the second-best film of 2007 (with Juno) noting that Bella presents an “affirmative pro-life message,” along with “themes of self-forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption that should resonate deeply.”
The director of the Department of Citizenship gave the director of Bella, Alejandro Monteverde, the “American by Choice” Award at a White House reception for Bella’s positive contribution to Latino art and culture in the United States.Monteverde was also invited to join the First Lady Laura Bush in her private box to watch the State of the Union address.
Bella broke the record for a Latino-themed film in total box office earnings and box office average per screen for films released in 2007. It was the top-rated movie on the New York Times Readers’ Poll, Yahoo, and Fandango. Bella ended its U.S. theatrical release with more than $10 million in domestic box office, finishing the year in the top 10-grossing independent films of 2007.
Other
In 2015 Monteverde’s second movie Little Boy was released. To this day, Alejandro continues to work with Shooters Films in the realization of Commercials and Music Videos.