Ibaven, Michelle

She studied communication at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico, and did postgraduate studies at the Madrid Film School, Spain: in documentary film directing and screenwriting, and directing of photography for digital film. She received the “David Alfaro Siqueiros” Artistic Creation and Development Stimulus Program grant, in Chihuahua, on two occasions in 2010 and in 2012. She won the Best Short Film Documentary award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG, in Spanish), Mexico, with her short documentary film Coyera (2009). She won the award for Best Documentary by a Woman at the 10th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) for her first feature length documentary No hay lugar lejano (2012), which was shown at more than 20 film screenings and festivals around the world and won, among other prizes, a Jury Special Mention at the 23rd Festival Présence Autochtone, Montreal, and three awards for Best Documentary: at the 7th Ecozine International Film and Environment Festival of Zaragoza, Spain; the 11th Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), Nepal; and the 5th “Cinema Planeta” International Film and Environment Festival, Mexico City.