Venezuelan-Canadian filmmaker Juan Carlos Lopez Duran was born in Caracas, Venezuela on July 10, 1970
to Tulio Lopez Rodríguez and Gladis Duran de Lopez. Juan Carlos comes
from a large family of 4 brothers and one sister. His early childhood
was typical of a middle class Venezuelan family; school during the
week, soccer on the weekends. But his fascination with movies began
very early. In middle school he carried his uncle's 30-pound VHS player
as he taped high school basketball games with a SVHS camera. In high
school he borrowed his uncle's camera for his senior project. With a
budget of $50, 4 friends, a SVHS camera, no lights, and amazing talent,
he created a short that could rival the most sophisticated of today's
student films.
Following high school graduation he enrolled as a communications/film
major at the prestigious Catholic University Andres Bello in Caracas.
He graduated in 1992 and rapidly began an active career as a producer.
Shortly after graduation he met renowned Latin American director
Alberto Arvelo while working for AM Films. Mr Arvelo and Juan Carlos
became an extremely effective creative and management team and embarked
on an ambitious project with the creation of production company Cinema
Sur. The company was founded in 1997 and rapidly became one of the most
influential film production companies in the country. While with
Cinema Sur, Juan Carlos produced "Una casa con Vista al Mar" (A House
with a view of the Sea) by Alberto Arvelo (2000), winner of more than
15 international awards and recognized as one of the best films ever
produced by the Venezuelan Film industry. In
2000, he developed, wrote, produced, and directed, with filmmaker
Alberto Arvelo, "Los Ultimos", a television drama series that became
the highest ranked Venezuelan TV series of the decade. In 1997,
working as a producer for AM Films, López-Durán served as casting
director of the internationally acclaimed feature "Una Vida y Dos
Mandados" (One Life and Two Trails).
Juan Carlos left Cinema Sur in 2001 to create his own film production
company: Explorart Films. "Tocar y Luchar" (2003) "Mas Alla de la Cumbre" (2008) "Children on the Summit" (2010-Present) "Extremos" (2010) "Road to Ithriyah" (2021) and "Amuri" (2021) are among the successful films of this content production house. He currently lives
in Vancouver, Canada.
