Award-winning, L.A.-based Latinx director Patricia Riggen has joined Chromista for exclusive U.S. commercial representation. Riggen’s first collaboration with Chromista, Alien (The Other), premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. A creative partnership with DoorDash and writer Özgür Seyben, the film captures the sense of otherness Seyben experienced as his family sought asylum in the United States.
Known for drawing forth the emotional depth and humanity within each character, Riggen began her career as a writer for television documentaries and as executive director for the Mexican Film Institute. While working at the Mexican Film Institute, Riggen realized she wanted to go back to school. Relocating to New York City, she earned a master’s degree in directing and screenwriting at Columbia University. As a student filmmaker, her first short, La Milpa (The Cornfield), received 20 international awards, including the Gold Medal for Narrative at the 2003 Student Academy Awards.
Riggen directed and produced her first feature film, Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) starring America Ferarra and Kate Del Castillo, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival where it was quickly acquired for worldwide distribution by Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company. Riggen went on to direct the Disney Channel musical Lemonade Mouth, for which she received a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs; Girl in Progress starring Eva Mendes; The 33, starring Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche; Family Portrait, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and took home the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking; and Miracles from Heaven for Sony Studios, which earned $73 million at the box office and made her one of a handful of Latinx directors with a box office hit in the U.S.
In 2018, Riggen translated her craft to the small screen, directing John Krasinski in three episodes of the critically acclaimed series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan for Amazon Studios. She then directed pilot episodes of FOX’s Proven Innocent and CBS’ Surveillance. She also directed episodes of Dopesick, a Hulu series for which Barry Levinson and series creator/showrunner Danny Strong also served as directors. Recently, she directed episodes for the critically acclaimed Apple TV’s anthology series Little America and Hulu’s Saint X, which is slated for release in 2023.
“Patricia is an incredible, groundbreaking filmmaker who is forever honing her craft to create work that challenges stereotypes and ensures that underrepresented voices are heard,” said Adina Birnbaum, executive producer/new business development at Chromista. “She’s direct, insightful, considerate, hilarious, and unstoppable. We’re looking forward to bringing her narrative voice back to commercial and brand work in a meaningful and relevant way.”
On joining Chromista, Riggen–who had earlier been freelancing in the advertising space–said, “From our first phone conversation, I knew that Adina, Scott [Franklin, co-founder & EP], Ted [Robbins, partner & EP], Larissa [Cortes, creative project manager] and the team of Chromista would be a perfect fit. They understand and respect my creative journey, support my vision as a filmmaker, and are aligned in their desire to create meaningful work that promotes change. Our first project together was a true passion project, and I could not have asked for a better creative partner.”
