Eva Aridjis was born in 1974 and grew up in Mexico City. She attended Princeton University, where she received a B.A. in Comparative Literature, and then went into New York University's M.F.A. program in Film and TV. While there she wrote, directed, and edited four short films: “The Collector” (1996), “Taxidermy: The Art of Imitating Life” (1998), “Billy Twist” (1999), and “The Passenger” (2001). Her shorts have screened at the Sundance, Edinburgh, Huesca, Sao Paulo and Clermont Ferrand film festivals and have won Warner Brothers Pictures Film Production and Screen Gems Awards.

After NYU she made a feature documentary entitled “Children of the Street”, about four street kids living in Mexico City. “Children of the Street” was nominated for 2 Mexican Academy Awards and won the Best Documentary Feature prize at the Morelia International Film Festival in 2003.

Eva completed her first narrative feature, “The Favor”, in 2006. It is a drama starring Frank Wood and Ryan Donowho and tells the story of a troubled, orphaned teenager and the man who adopts him. “The Favor” had its World Premiere at the CineVegas Film Festival, where it received a prize, and Ryan Donowho also received the “Best Actor” prize at the San Diego Film Festival for his role in the film. “The Favor” was released theatrically in Mexico in 2007 and in the U.S. in 2008 and is currently screening on the Sundance Channel.

Eva's second feature documentary, “Saint Death”, is about a religious cult in Mexico. The film is narrated by Gael García Bernal and premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2007. The film is being distributed by Seventh Art Releasing and received a prize at the Trieste Latin American Film Festival.

Eva's second narrative feature, “The Blue Eyes”, was filmed entirely on location in Chiapas, Mexico and tells the story of an American couple who visit Chiapas and have a life-changing encounter with a shapeshifting witch. The film stars Ofelia Medina in the role of the witch Yaxte and features an original soundtrack by JG Thirlwell.

Eva’s third documentary “Chuy, The Wolf Man” is about a Mexican man named Jesús “Chuy” Aceves and several of his family members who have congenital hypertrichosis (also known as “werewolf syndrome”), which causes an excess of hair on their faces and bodies. Due to their appearance, Chuy and his relatives struggle to find love, acceptance and employment. The film premiered in cinemas all over Mexico in September 2015 and received glowing reviews, and was nominated for several prizes.

Eva is currently making a feature documentary about the singer Q Lazzarus, who sang the hit song “Goodbye Horses” and then mysteriously disappeared for 27 years.

Eva has also done extensive TV/episodic work. In early 2018 Eva was a staff writer on El Candidato, a show about CIA agents in Mexico City (Televisa-Amazon). In June 2018 she shadowed director Johan Renck on the set of Chernobyl (HBO-Sky).

From August-December 2018 she worked in the writers’ room for Narcos: Mexico S2 (Gaumont-Netflix) and co-wrote Episode 502 “Alea Lacta Est” with showrunner Eric Newman.

She is currently developing two episodic series of her own: Pachucos (formerly named Sleepy Lagoon), a scripted series about Mexican-American zoot suiters in LA during World War II and Mexistory, a 6-part docuseries about the history of Mexican-Americans in the United States, from 1821-2021.

In addition to her film and TV work, Eva taught Screenwriting in NYU’s Graduate Film program from 2007-2009 and has directed several music videos, including for The Walkmen’s hit song “The Rat”.