Pablos earned his academic degree from the CCC with the short film '' La Canción de los Niños Muertos '' in 2008 . The film about five teenagers who lose their mother , starring Sebastián Aguirre and Rodrigo Azuela , won for Best Fiction Short Film at the Morelia International Film Festival and was screened during the International Critics ' Week of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival . For this work , Pablos earned the Ariel Award for Best Live Action Short and also the SIGNIS Award during the 4th International Short Film Festival ( FICMEX ) , being the SIGNIS jury 's verdict that " the film narrative takes us into the complexity of disparate feelings as violence and tenderness , anger and forgiveness , rebellion and reconciliation . " After directing the documentaries '' La Escritura en la Pared '' and '' Una Frontera , Todas las Fronteras '' ( 2010 ) , Pablos premiered in 2013 his first feature film , '' La Vida Después '' , also starring Azuela , Américo Hollander and María Renée Prudencio . The film , about two brothers searching for their stranged mother , received the Klic Award granted by the Mexican movie theater chain Cinépolis during the Morelia Film Festival . '' La Vida Después '' was the only Mexican film screened during the 70th Venice International Film Festival and according to Pablos is about " living in the same roof with a complete stranger , although that is your family ... it has to do with the lack of communication " . About the thematic similarities between his first short film and his first feature film , Pablos stated to magazine '' Encuadres '' : " I knew that I was interested in keep talking about family , namely , about brotherhood , but in the process I discovered what was the true essence of this film '' La Vida Después '' , which is about family heritage emotionally more than physically and how your children refuse to follow the footsteps of their parents because often there is a kind of chain that is impossible to break and this generates feelings of frustration and rejection . My question was whether the chain can be broken or not , and what the consequences are and what involves the separation of the family that " the mother " loves . " — '' David Pablos '' Pablos directed '' 20 y Más por el Arte '' , a TV series created to celebrate Canal 22 's 20th Anniversary in 2013 . The series followed 20 FONCA beneficiaries through their daily life and creative processes . In 2014 , the film '' Las Tinieblas '' , co-written by Pablos and director Daniel Castro Zimbrón , was shown included on the Cinéfondation official selection during the 2014 Cannes Film Festival . Later that year , after an exhaustive casting process , Pablos filmed '' Las Elegidas '' in Tijuana with non-professional actors . The film was originally based on a book written by Mexican novelist Jorge Volpi from which Pablos developed a screenplay that features a love story that evolves in a complaint about kidnapping , white slave traffic and prostitution , with a " documentary tone " . '' Las Elegidas '' competed at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and later premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival . '' Sight & Sound '' magazine ranked the film at number 118 of their list for the Best Films of 2015 . In 2016 , '' Las Elegidas '' received 13 nominations for the 58th Ariel Awards and won five awards , including Best Picture , and Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Pablos . The film opened theatrically in Mexico on 14 theaters , which according to Pablos was " poor " , and a week later was streamed internationally by Netflix . Thanks to this distribution deal , Pablos was contacted by British band White Lies to hire him to direct a music video for the track " Take It Out On Me " , the lead single of their album '' Friends '' ( 2016 ) , after Harry McVeigh , lead singer of the band , watched '' Las Elegidas '' . Pablos is currently ( as of 2016 ) working on the film adaptation of the novel '' Los Detectives Salvajes '' written by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño
2015 Cannes Film Festival
2015 Cannes Film Festival
David Pablos