Canada-based Venezuelan director Jorge Thielen Armand was announced as one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, presented to exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.
Born in Caracas, Thielen Armand studied Communications at Concordia University in Montreal and took part in several talent development programs, including the Venice Biennale College, TIFF Writers' Studio and Berlinale Talents. In 2015 he founded the production company La Faena with Rodrigo Michelangeli.
His documentary short Flor de la mar (2015) screened at the Margaret Mead Festival in New York, RIDM Montreal, and several others. His first feature film La Soledad (2016) premiered in Venice and showed at more than 60 festivals, receiving over a dozen awards including the Cinema Tropical Award for Best First Film; the Institute of Contemporary Arts and MUBI released the film in UK cinemas. His second feature film La Fortaleza (2020) premiered in Tiger Competition at Rotterdam and won 8 awards in festivals of 2020, notably the Jury Prize of Biarritz Amérique-Latine.
The 2021 generation of Guggenheim Fellows is comprised of a diverse group of 184 artists, writers, scholars, and scientists. (See the full list here), that were selected through a rigorous peer-review process from almost 3,000 applicants.
