Alonso Mayo is an award-winning director & writer who navigates between fiction and documentary, exploring comedy, drama and the subtle spaces in between.
BIOGRAPHY
Alonso Mayo grew up traveling back and forth between Lima, Peru, and Lawrence, Kansas. He studied Journalism & Film at the University of Lima, and after a few years of shooting videos for mining and gas companies in remote areas of Peru, he wrote and directed “Silencio”, a short that landed him a spot in the directing program at the American Film Institute.
His AFI thesis film, “Wednesday Afternoon”, screened in over 25 festivals around the world and won the Student Academy Award and a DGA Student Award. In 2008, he directed “Viva La Causa”, a documentary about Cesar Chavez’s farmworker movement for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Film Series, which was shortlisted for the Documentary Short Subject Academy Award. In 2010, he directed the unscripted web drama “Untitled Fiction Project” and in 2013 its follow-up, the interactive thriller “Murder Project”.
In 2013, Gravitas Ventures released his first feature film, the dramedy “The Story of Luke” about a young man with autism, starring Lou Taylor Pucci, Seth Green, Cary Elwes, and Kristin Bauer. The film won over 20 top festival prizes including Best Film from the San Diego Film Festival, Irvine Film Festival, and San Luis Obispo Film Festival, and Audience Awards from Bahamas International Film Festival and San Francisco IndieFest.
His second feature, the vasectomy comedy “FIXED”, starring Andy Comeau, Courtney Henggeler, Nelson Franklin, Leonard Roberts, and Alan Ruck, premiered at the 2017 Cinequest Film Festival and was released in February 2018. His latest documentary, “Transformations” is currently playing film festivals.
Alonso is a partner at FLUID, a production company that works with corporate, non-profit, and agency clients. He teaches screenwriting at The New School and NYU and recently finished participating in the Walt Disney Television Directing Program.
Selected FILMOGRAPHY
2019 - Transformations - Documentary
2018 - FIXED - Feature Film
2017 - Ms. Liz’s Allies - Documentary
2013 - The Story of Luke - Feature Film
*Winner Best Film at San Diego Film Festival, Irvine International Film Festival, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, San Antonio Film Festival, Garden State Film Festival & More
*Winner Audience Award at San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, SF Indiefest, Bahamas International Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, Omaha Film Festival & More
2013 - Murder Project - Webseries
2008 - Viva La Causa - Documentary
*Shortlisted for Short Documentary Academy Award
2005 - Keeper of the Past - Short Film
2004 - Wednesday Afternoon - Short Film
*Winner of Student Academy Award
*Winner of DGA Student Award
2002 - Silencio - Short Film