# Patricia Ortega

Patricia Ortega (Venezuelan Spanish pronunciation:, born 1977) is a Venezuelan film director. She has won multiple accolades, particularly for her 2018 film Being Impossible.

## Early life

Ortega says that she has been a movie lover since she was young, and so the decision to become a filmmaker was natural. She has studied journalism at university.

## Career

Ortega studied at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in Cuba, specialising in Film Direction.
After creating some short films, Ortega became president of the independent Venezuelan production company Mandrágora Films in 2009. In the next ten years, she made ten short fiction and documentary films with the company; in 2013 she directed her first feature film, El regreso (English: The Return), which saw a wide commercial release in cinemas across Venezuela.
Her second feature film, Being Impossible (Spanish: Yo, imposible), however, did well internationally and has yet to be released in her home nation. Ortega has drawn strength from Being Impossible during times of both personal and political upheaval. She found out that Being Impossible would be screening at the US film festival South by Southwest on the same day that Juan Guaidó was declared Acting President of Venezuela; she found the news of the screening "beautiful", but this was overwhelmed by the political situation that "worried" her. Ortega won the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards at the Venezuelan Film Festival in June 2019 for Being Impossible.
In 2019, she began development of her third feature film, Mamacruz.

## Personal life

Ortega was raised in a religious Catholic family, and says that she was always the black sheep of the family who did not follow traditional roles. She is divorced, and has lived in Porlamar on the Venezuelan Caribbean island of Margarita since January 2019.

## Filmography

* Pasajes (2004)
* Al otro lado del mar (2006)
* The Return (2013)
* Being Impossible (2018)
* Mamacruz (2023)

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Event | Award | Work | Result |
| 2013 | Festival Entre Largos y Cortos de Oriente (ELCO) | Best First Feature | The Return | Won |
| 2014 | Margarita Latin American and Caribbean Film Festival | Golden Pelican for Best Fiction Film | The Return | Won |
| 2018 | Havana Film Festival | Unete Award | Being Impossible | Special Recognition |
| 2018 | Valladolid International Film Festival | Rainbow Spike Award | Being Impossible | Won |
| 2019 | Femme Revolution Film Fest | Best Construction of a Female Character | Being Impossible | Won |
| 2019 | Amsterdam LGBTI Film Festival | Best Mix Feature Audience Award | Being Impossible | Won |
| 2019 | Reflections of Spanish and Latin American Cinema Festival | Audience Award | Being Impossible | Won |
| 2019 | South by Southwest | Gamechanger Award | Being Impossible | Nominated |
| 2019 | Venezuelan Film Festival | Best Director | Being Impossible | Won |
| 2019 | Venezuelan Film Festival | Best Screenplay (with Enmanuel Chávez) | Being Impossible | Won |
| 2019 | Houston International LGBTQ Film Festival | Best Script (with Enmanuel Chávez) | Being Impossible | Won |
| 2020 | Platino Awards | Best Director | Being Impossible | Nominated |