Special guests include the new Spanish heart-throb Unax Ugalde, starring in the films Bon Appétit and Lovestorming, and Nicolás Goldbart, director of our closing night film Phase 7, attend La Mirada throughout the festival. We invite you to gain an insight into their work at the question and answer sessions, and to meet them personally at our events.

Unax Ugalde, star of  Lovestorming and Bon Appétit

European-born heartthrob Unax Ugalde debuted onscreen in his early twenties in the lead role of David, a wayward and ignorant young man who drifts aimlessly into a life of dope dealing to save himself from homelessness, in Josecho San Mateo's gritty urban drama Fill Me with Life (2000). The part showcased Ugalde's ability to handle emotionally demanding and difficult assignments and, in terms of raw intensity, set the pattern for many of his subsequent project choices such as the moody 2001 psychological drama Mi Dulce, the maritime nail-biter Camara Oscura (2004), and the relentlessly brutal action thriller Rosario Tijeras (2005). Ugalde achieved international appeal with supporting roles in Milos Forman's Francisco Goya biopic Goya's Ghosts (2006) and Mike Newell's sweeping romantic drama Love in the Time of Cholera (2007). In 2006 Unax filmed Savage Grace, opposite Julianne Moore. He also worked with Viggo Mortensen in the epic drama Alatriste, which premiered in Australia at La Mirada Film Festival in 2007.

In 2008, Ugalde played the role of Roberto "El Vaquerito" Rodríguez in Che Part 1: The Argentine, the first part of the two-parts biopic about Ernesto "Che" Guevara film, Che. The film is a American superproduction inspired by Ernesto "Che" Guevara's life during Cuban Revolution and directed by Steven Soderbergh. In 2010, Ugalde filmed three movies: Cefalópodo directed by Rubén Imaz, a Mexican film about overcoming of break-up in a couple; Bon Appétit  (winner of 2011 Goya Award for Best New Director) and finally the hilarious comedy Lovestorming directed by Borja Cobeaga, which is part of La Mirada Film Festival´s program for 2011.

Nicolás Goldbart

Goldbart studied film at the University of Cinema in Buenos Aires. He directed two short films, Aguante Torino and Tifón and several video clips for Argentinean rock and roll bands. From 1999 he worked as an editor in some of the most successful and relevant Argentinean films of the past few years, with directors Pablo Trapero, Rodrigo Moreno y Ulises Rosell amongst others, in films like El Bonaerense, Mundo Grúa, and Familia Rodante. All these films received international acclaim in film festivals including Cannes and Venice. He edited the film The Paranoids, by Gabriel Medina, which was the closing night film for La Mirada Film Festival in 2009. Nicolás used the same protagonists Daniel Hendler and Jazmin Stuart to star his first feature, Phase 7, an extremely cool and funny sci-fi comedy which we are proud to premiere in Australia. The film won best script in Sitges Film Festival 2010.