{{Short description|Argentine film director, screenwriter, producer, and educator}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Julia Solomonoff | image = Julia Solomonoff.jpg | caption = Julia Solomonoff | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|3|4}} | birth_place = Rosario, Argentina | alma_mater = Columbia University School of the Arts | occupation = {{hlist|Film director|screenwriter|producer|educator}} | years_active = 1992-present | notable_works = ''The Last Summer of La Boyita'', ''Nobody's Watching'', ''Sisters'' }}
'''Julia Solomonoff''' is an Argentine film director, screenwriter, producer, and educator from Rosario, Argentina, based in New York City. Her work includes feature films, short films, documentary, and television. She is known for the feature films ''Sisters'' (2005), ''The Last Summer of La Boyita'' (2009), and ''Nobody's Watching'' (2017).<ref name="ColumbiaChair">{{cite web |title=Alumna Julia Solomonoff '00 Named Chair of the Graduate Film Program at New York University |url=https://arts.columbia.edu/news/alumna-julia-solomonoff-00-named-chair-graduate-film-program-new-york-university |website=Columbia University School of the Arts |date=March 24, 2021 |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref>
Solomonoff has also worked as a producer on films by Latin American directors, including Lucrecia Martel's ''Zama'', Julia Murat's ''Pendular'', Celina Murga's ''The Third Bank of the River'', and Alejandro Landes's ''Cocalero''.<ref name="NYUDirectory">{{cite web |title=Julia Solomonoff |url=https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/grad-film/100239647 |website=NYU Tisch School of the Arts |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref> She is Head of Directing at the Graduate Film Program at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where she served as Departmental Chair from 2021-2025.<ref name="NYUChair">{{cite web |title=Announcing Julia Solomonoff as the Incoming Chair of Graduate Film |url=https://tisch.nyu.edu/grad-film/news/2021/announcing-julia-solomonoff-as-the-incoming-chair-of-graduate-fi |website=NYU Tisch School of the Arts |date=March 29, 2021 |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref><ref name="NYUDirecting">{{cite web |title=Directing Faculty |url=https://tisch.nyu.edu/grad-film/faculty/directing-faculty |website=NYU Tisch School of the Arts |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref>
== Early life and education ==
Solomonoff studied cinematography at the Argentine National School of Film, known as ENERC, and received an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University School of the Arts, where she graduated with honors. She was a Fulbright Scholar and received a Milos Forman Grant and a Directors Guild of America award for Best Latinx Student Filmmaker.<ref name="NYUDirectory" />
== Career ==
=== Early work and short films ===
Solomonoff began directing short films in the 1990s. Her early works include ''Octavo 51'' (1992), ''Un día con Ángela'' (1993), and ''Siesta'' (1998). Her short film ''Scratch'' (2003) screened at New Directors/New Films and received the Milos Forman Award.<ref name="NYUDirectory" />
=== Feature films ===
Solomonoff's first feature film, ''Sisters'' (Spanish: ''Hermanas''), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005. The film was developed through the Sundance Writers Lab and the Berlinale Talent Campus.<ref name="ColumbiaChair" /> The film was also Pedro Pascal's feature film debut. For Pascal's role, Solomonoff was looking for candidates with strong English-language skills. In addition to meeting this requirement, Pascal (then credited as Balmaceda) was found to be "someone with a very special face, very photogenic, with a kind of mystery" by Solomonoff.
Her second feature, ''The Last Summer of La Boyita'' (Spanish: ''El último verano de la Boyita''), premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2009. The film was produced by Pedro Almodóvar's company El Deseo and won more than twenty international awards.<ref name="ColumbiaChair" /> It is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.<ref name="ColumbiaChair" />
In 2017, Solomonoff wrote and directed ''Nobody's Watching'' (Spanish: ''Nadie nos mira''), starring Guillermo Pfening. Pfening won Best Actor at the Tribeca Festival for his performance in the film.<ref name="THRNobody">{{cite web |last=Mintzer |first=Jordan |title='Nobody's Watching' ('Nadie Nos Mira'): Film Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/nobody-s-watching-review-1014539/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=June 19, 2017 |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref> The film opened theatrically at Film Forum in New York and was a New York Times and Village Voice Critics' Pick.<ref name="FilmForumNobody">{{cite web |title=Nobody's Watching |url=https://filmforum.org/film/nobodys-watching-film |website=Film Forum |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref>
=== Television and documentary work ===
Solomonoff's television and documentary work includes ''The Suitor'' (2001), which aired on PBS, ''Chinchonfan'' (2003), ''Paraná, Biography of a River'' (2011), and ''Aerocene Pacha: A Sustainable Utopia'' (2020).<ref name="NYUDirectory" /> ''Aerocene Pacha: A Sustainable Utopia'' was presented by the Goethe-Institut's Science Film Festival and credited Solomonoff as director.<ref name="GoetheAerocene">{{cite web |title=Aerocene Pacha: A Sustainable Utopia |url=https://www.goethe.de/prj/sff/en/m/faw/det.cfm?filmId=909 |website=Goethe-Institut Science Film Festival |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref>
She also directed work for the television series ''15 a la Hora'', also titled ''Minimum Wage'', a Paramount Global Content series about three Latina immigrant cleaners working in Los Angeles.<ref name="Paramount15">{{cite web |title=Minimum Wage (15 a la Hora) |url=https://paramountglobalcontent.com/title/15-a-la-hora |website=Paramount Global Content |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref>
=== Producing ===
As a producer, co-producer, associate producer, or executive producer, Solomonoff has worked on films including ''Cocalero'', ''Everybody Has a Plan'', ''The Third Bank of the River'', ''A memória que me contam'', ''Zama'', ''Pendular'', and ''The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer''.<ref name="NYUDirectory" /><ref name="ColumbiaChair" /> Her producing credits include projects that screened at Sundance, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and the New York Film Festival.<ref name="NYUDirectory" />
=== Teaching ===
Solomonoff has taught film directing at the graduate level and has held faculty and leadership positions at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. In 2021, NYU Tisch announced that she would become Chair of the Graduate Film Department, effective in the Fall 2021 semester.<ref name="NYUChair" /> She is currently Head of Directing in the Graduate Film Program at Tisch.<ref name="NYUDirecting" />
Before returning to NYU, Solomonoff was a distinguished lecturer and head of the Directing Program at Brooklyn College's Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema.<ref name="BrooklynCollege">{{cite web |title=Julia Solomonoff: A Champion of Diversity in Film |url=https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-news/julia-solomonoff-a-champion-of-diversity-in-film/ |website=Brooklyn College |date=April 8, 2021 |access-date=May 11, 2026}}</ref>
== Filmography ==
=== As director and writer ===
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Type ! Credited role ! Notes |- | 1992 | ''Octavo 51'' | Short film | Writer, director, producer | |- | 1993 | ''Un día con Ángela'' | Short film | Writer, director, producer | Part of ''Historias Breves'' |- | 1998 | ''Siesta'' | Short film | Writer, director, producer | DGA Directing Award: Latino Student. |- | 2001 | ''The Suitor'' | Television film | Writer, director | Aired on PBS |- | 2003 | ''Scratch'' | Short film | Writer, director, producer | Screened at New Directors/New Films |- | 2003 | ''Chinchonfan'' | Television / mockumentary | Director | |- | 2005 | ''Sisters'' / ''Hermanas'' | Feature film | Writer, director, producer | Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival |- | 2005 | ''Ahora'' | Short film | Writer, director, producer | |- | 2009 | ''The Last Summer of La Boyita'' / ''El último verano de la Boyita'' | Feature film | Writer, director, producer | Premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival |- | 2011 | ''Paraná, Biography of a River'' | Documentary series | Director | Canal Encuentro |- | 2017 | ''Nobody's Watching'' / ''Nadie nos mira'' | Feature film | Writer, director, co-producer | Winner of Best Actor at the Tribeca Festival |- | 2020 | ''Aerocene Pacha: A Sustainable Utopia'' | Documentary series | Director | Canal Encuentro |- | 2021 | ''Hand, Writing'' | Short film | Writer, director, producer | Presented by The Shed and Cont.ar |- | 2021 | ''Traces'' | Short film essay | Writer, director, producer | Commissioned by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team |- | 2025 | ''15 a la Hora'' / ''Minimum Wage'' | Television series | Director | Paramount Global Content series |}
=== As producer ===
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Credited role ! Notes |- | 2007 | ''Cocalero'' | Alejandro Landes | Producer | Screened at Sundance |- | 2012 | ''Everybody Has a Plan'' | Ana Piterbarg | Associate producer | Screened at Toronto; starring Viggo Mortensen |- | 2013 | ''A memória que me contam'' | Lúcia Murat | Co-producer | FIPRESCI Award, Moscow Film Festival |- | 2014 | ''The Third Bank of the River'' | Celina Murga | Associate producer | Screened in the Berlinale official competition |- | 2014 | ''Earthship Ushuaia'' | | Executive producer | Documentary |- | 2017 | ''Zama'' | Lucrecia Martel | Associate producer | Screened at Venice, Toronto, and New York Film Festival |- | 2017 | ''Pendular'' | Julia Murat | Co-producer | FIPRESCI Award, Berlinale Panorama |- | 2026 | ''The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer'' | Alessandra Sanguinetti | Producer | Feature documentary |}
== Awards and nominations ==
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Award |- | 1992 | ''Octavo 51'' | Women in Film Award - Best Short Film |- | 1993 | ''Un día con Ángela'' | FIPRESCI Award |- | rowspan="3" | 1998 | rowspan="3" | ''Siesta'' | DGA Award - Best Latino Student Film<ref name="macdowell">{{cite web |title=Julia Solomonoff - MacDowell Fellow in Film/Video Arts |url=https://www.macdowell.org/artists/julia-solomonoff |website=MacDowell |access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref> |- | Regional Academy Award nomination<ref name="macdowell" /> |- | New Line Cinema Most Original Film |- | 2003 | ''Scratch'' | Milos Forman Award<ref name="macdowell" /> |- | 2005 | ''Ahora'' | Argentine Critics Association Award - Best Screenplay |- | rowspan="2" | 2005 | rowspan="2" | ''Hermanas'' | Sundance Writers Lab<ref name="mappeal">{{cite web |title=The Last Summer of the Boyita |url=https://m-appeal.com/catalogue/the-last-summer-of-the-boyita |website=m-appeal |access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref> |- | Toronto International Film Festival<ref name="mappeal" /> |- | rowspan="3" | 2009 | rowspan="3" | ''The Last Summer of La Boyita'' | Best Director at Málaga Film Festival<ref name="mappeal" /> |- | Jordan Alexander Ressler Screenwriting Award at Miami Film Festival<ref name="mappeal" /> |- | Best Director at Kerala International Film Festival<ref name="mappeal" /> |- | rowspan="3" | 2017 | rowspan="3" | ''Nobody's Watching'' | Best Actor at Tribeca Film Festival<ref>{{cite web |title=Here are the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival Juried Award Winners |url=https://tribecafilm.com/news/tribeca-2017-jury-awards |website=Tribeca Film Festival |date=27 April 2017 |access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref> |- | Best Original Screenplay at the Cóndor Awards<ref>{{cite web |title=Nadie nos mira - Premios / Nominaciones |url=https://www.elenaroger.com/cine/nadie-nos-mira.htm |website=Elena Roger |access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref> |- | Best Film at Ceará Film Festival |} == References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|0813439}} * [https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/grad-film/100239647 Julia Solomonoff at NYU Tisch School of the Arts] * [https://mubi.com/en/cast/julia-solomonoff Julia Solomonoff at MUBI]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomonoff, Julia}} Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:Argentine film directors Category:Argentine women film directors Category:Argentine screenwriters Category:Argentine women screenwriters Category:Argentine film producers Category:Women film producers Category:Argentine television directors Category:Women television directors Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Category:New York University faculty Category:Brooklyn College faculty