Gustavo Graef-Marino — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Gustavo took the independent film scene by storm in the 90's with his very original and highly acclaimed take on post-Pinochet Chile with "Johnny 100 Pesos". The film became Chile's highest grossing movie and was selected as its official candidate for both the "Best Foreign Language Film" category in the 1993 Academy Awards, as well as the Spanish Goya Awards that same year. In the US, the film premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival where it became an instant success and was commercially released in the US to rave reviews from the indie press. Crowning its success, the film was invited to participate in A-list festivals such as Tokyo International Film Festival, New Directors New Films at the MOMA in New York, Toronto, and other prestigious festivals like Montreal, Los Angeles, San Sebastian, Munich, London, Stockholm, V'iennale, Sydney, Rio; and winning numerous awards including the Chilean film critics' Best Movie of the Year and 1st place at the "Mystery Film Festival" in Italy. "Johnny" went on to obtain worldwide distribution.

His prestige as an international filmmaker has also led Gustavo to become President of the Jury of the Latin American Cinema Award at the Sundance Film Festival 1999.

Gustavo's desire to become a filmmaker started at an early age. After attending law school at the prestigious Universidad Catolica in Chile, he left to pursue his film career as a student at the highly selective and celebrated HFF -Munich Film and Television University- in Germany, where he spent five years. He remained in Germany where he developed a career as a screenwriter and director, beginning with films such as "Filming with Douglas Sirk" -a documentary about the master of melodrama in Hollywood, featuring the late great post-war German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Gustavo directed in Germany his first English language feature, "The voice", with British actors Jon Finch and Suzanna Hamilton, and late rock star Ian Dury.

Gustavo returned to Chile after 15 years in Europe to write, produce and direct "Johnny 100 Pesos". With this success under his belt he was invited to work in the United States and offered his first American feature "Diplomatic Siege" starring Darryl Hannah, Peter Weller and Tom Berenger. His second American film "Instinct to kill" features martial arts star Mark Dacascos.

Gustavo has most recently been directing, writing and producing greatly admired big budget movies for Chilean TV like "Balmaceda," for which he won the Altazor Television award in the best drama category. His next TV movie "Prat" reached a record audience in that country. In 2017 he directs and produces "Johnny 100 Pesos - Chapter Two".