Antonio Muñoz de Mesa

Antonio Muñoz de Mesa (born Madrid, 1972) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, playwright, actor, producer, and graphic novelist. His work moves between independent cinema, author-driven theater, television, contemporary photography, and graphic storytelling, with a career spanning more than thirty years, twenty-plus produced stage works, two feature films, and a fourteen-year run as the lead host of Spain's flagship cinema programming on Canal+.

His latest feature, Santa Zeta (2025) — which he wrote, directed, and edited — was selected for the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival Breakouts Program, a slate of just six films from around the world, with a theatrical screening at the Landmark Theater in Los Angeles. The film was also an official selection of the 33rd San Diego Latino Film Festival, with theatrical screenings at Digital Gym Cinema and AMC Theatres, and toured Southern California academic venues, including UCLA, CSU San Marcos, and Whittier College, with director Q&As on independent, trans-continental filmmaking. In April 2026 it also won the Audience Award at the inaugural Taos Film Festival in New Mexico, organized by the Taos Center for the Arts. Santa Zeta has gathered more than twenty-five international awards — among them Best Director, Best Editing, and the Silver Award for Screenplay at the London Movie Awards — and over thirty official festival selections in fifteen countries, from South Africa to South Korea.

In theater, Muñoz de Mesa is among the most recognized voices of his generation in the Spanish-speaking world. He has won the Premio MAX for Best Children's Theatre Production with Qué es la Vida; two FETEN Awards — Best Musical Production for Beethoven#ParaElisa, premiered at Madrid's Teatro Español, and Best Playwriting for Qué es la Vida; and three HOLA Awards in New York in 2015 for Abuse/Abuso, the extended New York version of La Visita, produced by Thalia Spanish Theatre — Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting and the Gilberto Zaldívar Award for Outstanding Dramatic Production (the third HOLA, for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor, went to a cast member). The New York Latin Critics Circle also named the Abuse/Abuso playtext Best of the Year in 2015. His playwriting career began with early recognition: in 1994 he was awarded First Prize at the inaugural Torrejón de Ardoz Short Theatre Competition for Querido Abuelo, a play anthologized by the Torrejón de Ardoz City Council and the Universidad Popular in the volume gathering the first three editions of the competition, alongside plays by Alberto Miralles — President of the Spanish Association of Theatre Authors and posthumous recipient of the 2005 National Prize for Dramatic Literature — Vidal Cubas, and Carmen Consentino.

His play La Visita — translated into English as Policy by Rutgers University professor emerita Phyllis Zatlin, and staged in an extended version as Abuse at Thalia Spanish Theatre in New York — has been produced in three U.S. states. The English-language world premiere took place at the Rogue Theater of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in November 2014, with revivals in Sturgeon Bay and Ephraim in 2015. The full text — fifty pages — was published in the academic journal The Mercurian: A Theatrical Translation Review (Vol. 5, No. 3, Spring 2015). In Spring 2016, California State University San Marcos produced the U.S. West Coast premiere in an unprecedented bilingual format — Policy in English at the campus Black Box Theatre, and La Visita in Spanish at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido — directed by Marcos Martinez of the CSUSM School of Arts.

His other original stage works include Torrijas de Cerdo — selected for the Festival de Otoño of the Community of Madrid in 1996, produced by Compañía María La Negra, and published as a book in 2006 by La Chirimoya Ediciones (Madrid), ISBN 84-8431-857-5, as the final project of the Master's Program in Publishing jointly offered by the University of Salamanca and Editorial Santillana; Clown Quijote de la Mancha — in continuous repertoire for eighteen years, applying Philippe Gaulier's clown technique to the Spanish classical canon; Yo, la Peor del Mundo, centered on the figure of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and toured at four Southern California universities in 2024; Una Vida Robada at Madrid's Teatro Fernán Gómez; Crazy Love at Teatro Circo Price; and Otro Gran Teatro del Mundo, a co-production with Spain's Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico in which he also performed the role of Calderón de la Barca.

He has been resident playwright and director of Uroc Teatro since 1997, a company founded by Petra Martínez and Juan Margallo (recipients of Spain's 2022 National Theatre Award) and distinguished with the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts in 2010, granted by the Spanish Council of Ministers. The company won the 2004 Premio MAX for Best Production with Qué es la Vida and has distributed its work in Spain, the United States, France, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic.

As an actor, he has appeared in some of the most relevant Spanish television fiction of the last decade — Mentiras Pasajeras (produced by Pedro Almodóvar's El Deseo for SkyShowtime), Galgos, La Pecera de Eva, Impares, Generación DF, Frágiles, La que se avecina, Cable Girls (Netflix), and Pequeñas Coincidencias (Amazon Prime Video) — and in large-format musical theater, where he played Mr. Wormwood and the understudy for Miss Trunchbull in the Spanish-language production of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Matilda The Musical at Madrid's Nuevo Teatro Alcalá (2022–2023).

In parallel, he has sustained a long-running career as a television host and writer across four Spanish networks. On Canal+ he hosted La Noche+Corta (1998–2003), MagaCine (2003–2006), Talleres de Cine (2007–2011), the live broadcasts of La Noche de los Óscar, and the special Morir de Humor (2008); he was also a recurring guest on Boyero y Cía., the film show directed and hosted by film critic Carlos Boyero (Canal+, 2006–2010), and a guest on Ilustres Ignorantes, the comedy talk show hosted by Javier Coronas with Javier Cansado and Pepe Colubi — winner of the 2014 Ondas Award for Best Entertainment Program — which has aired on Canal+ since 2008 and later on Movistar+. On Cuatro he hosted the cinema show Hazte un Cine (2006–2011) and the current-affairs program Un Equipo (2005–2006), co-hosted with Pablo Carbonell and Argentinian journalist María Julia Oliván. On Telemadrid he hosted — and wrote — Cazador de Palabras (produced by Notro Films, 2007), having previously hosted CyberClub on the same network. On Terra TV he hosted En Ocasiones Veo Series (2007). As a host and writer of official festival galas, he served as master of ceremonies and scriptwriter of the PhotoEspaña festival gala for four consecutive editions (2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010), hosted the gala of the Animadrid International Animation Festival and the short film section of the Málaga Spanish Film Festival, and in 2012 co-wrote and co-directed (with Olga Margallo) the official Premios MAX Awards Ceremony (15th edition), broadcast nationally on Spanish public television (TVE La 2).

Beyond Santa Zeta, he directed the feature film Amigos de Jesús (2007), which won the Biznaga de Plata for Best Film in the Zonazine section at the Málaga Spanish Film Festival, the Movistar Parrilla de Oro at Átalo en Corto, the Young Jury Star at the Festivalito de La Palma, and the Abycine Award for Best Film at the Festival de Cine de Albacete. The film was officially selected by The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival (BFI Southbank, October 2007) — one of the world's leading film festivals — where it featured in the Spanish selection alongside works by Antonio Banderas, Julio Medem, and Icíar Bollaín; it was reviewed by Variety magazine — which compared it to early Jim Jarmusch — by Time Out London, and by the British specialist publication Notcoming.com. It also had an official screening at the 4th London Spanish Film Festival (Instituto Cervantes London) and circulated through more than ten festivals in Spain (Medina del Campo, Tarazona, Avilés, among others), with additional international showcases in Copenhagen (within an official Spanish cinema exhibition organized by Ficcab Benalmádena together with the Spanish Embassy and the ICAA, August 2007). As a writer-director of short films, he has signed Piel Fina (2024) — recipient of the Premio Lorca for Best Social Short Film, awarded by the Andalusian Film Academy; Primeros Auxilios (2007), shot in a single week within the collective audiovisual creation contest La Palma Rueda at the 6th Festivalito de La Palma, where it won the Audience Star (Estrella del Público) and the Actor Star for Luis Callejo; Que me tapes, coño (2007), finalist at the 6th edition of Notodofilmfest, the online short film festival run by La Fábrica, whose jury that year included Bigas Luna, Guillermo del Toro and Carles Sans (Tricicle); El Diskette (2001); and Alya (1997). As a film actor he has worked, among others, with Ángeles González-Sinde in La suerte dormida (Tornasol Films, 2003) and with Guillermo Zapata in Y todo va bien (2007).

Photography has been a constant thread throughout his creative practice. He trained at Blank Paper School in Madrid with Fosi Vegue, in workshops with Alec Soth, Paulo Nozolino, Alfonso Moral, Roger Ballen, Michael Ackerman, Anders Petersen, Rinko Kawauchi, and Moisés Samán (Magnum Photos), and at the Campus PHE Photobook Edition program with Markus Schaden (Schaden Verlag) and Cristóbal Hara, recipient of the 2022 Spanish National Prize for Photography. He is the author of the cover photograph of the Anuario BlankPaper 2009/2010 — published by the BlankPaper School of Photography itself, ISBN 978-84-614-4211-9 — where he is also the subject of one of the volume's editorial monographic features, alongside fellow photographers Cristóbal Hara, Enrique Galdú, David Hornillos, Alberto Lizaralde, Paco Poyato, Frano Prochazka, Toni Rodríguez, and Leticia Tojar. His photograph Tiempo Muerto was a selected work in the 6th Clics de Extremadura Photography Competition, published by Caja de Extremadura's Obra Social, judged by a professional jury comprising José María Mellado, José Gálvez Jurado, Pablo Juliá, Eulalia Martínez Zamora, and Josep Vicent Monzó. He exhibited Domestic at the Espacio Cultural Caja Madrid in Plaza Cataluña, Barcelona (2010), received the 4th Prize at the 2010 WinePhoto competition, and delivered the lecture The Photographer as a Fictional Character at the Emergent–Lleida International Photography Festival the same year.

Under the pen name Gran Antuan, he wrote the graphic novel Hugo Marker y el Fin del Mundo, illustrated by Henar Torinos and published by Anaya Multimedia (Oberon imprint, Libros Singulares collection) in October 2020. The 128-page hardcover (ISBN 9788441543133) follows a Los Angeles adventure set in the aftermath of a major earthquake and is distributed internationally in Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America. The project grew out of the Hugo Marker YouTube channel, a family project he runs with his son.

With Jordi Monedero he is co-founder and creative director of ManodeSanto, the production company behind Santa Zeta — founded in 2018 and headquartered in Basauri (Basque Country), with an office in Madrid. ManodeSanto has been selected by ICEX, Spain's Trade and Investment Agency, for the official Spanish audiovisual delegation at four international markets in 2025 and 2026: the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG), the II Spain–Mexico Audiovisual Days in Mexico City, and MAFIZ at the Málaga Film Festival.

As a juror, he has been formally appointed by Spanish Ministerial Order published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) to the jury of the National Award for Performing Arts for Children and Youth 2012 of Spain's Ministry of Culture, as a member of the Evaluation Committee for the 2012 Film Development Fund of the Government of Colombia (CNACC / Proimágenes Colombia), as a member of the Selection Committee for the Baroque Theatre for Children Competition at the Almagro International Classical Theatre Festival — the most prestigious classical theatre festival in the Spanish-speaking world — and as a juror at Madrid's Teatro Circo Price.

He holds a Licenciatura (B.A.) in Acting from the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático (RESAD, Madrid, 1991–1994), and has trained in film direction at TAI Madrid and the New York Film Academy, in clown technique with Philippe Gaulier in London, and in screenwriting with Robert McKee. In 2014–2015 he completed the nine-month Core Curriculum at the Academy for New Musical Theatre in Los Angeles — the West Coast equivalent of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York — on a scholarship from Fundación Autor (SGAE), under artistic directors Elise Dewsberry and John Sparks. He has also completed acting workshops with Mariano Barroso (2001) and Tamzin Townsend (2007). He served as Academic Coordinator of MADS — Madrid Audiovisual Drama School from 2022 to 2024, and continues collaborating with the school as Faculty Tutor for Final Projects in the Master's Program in Acting and New Creators and as Professor of Screenwriting in the Diploma program. From 2010 to 2012 he was Professor of Dramaturgy in the Bachelor's Program in Musical Theatre at SCAENA, the school founded by Carmen Roche. He is a member of SGAE as an author and of AISGE as a performer.

As a published author, his catalogue includes Querido Abuelo (in the I, II, and III Torrejón de Ardoz Short Theatre Anthology, Torrejón de Ardoz City Council / Universidad Popular, 1994), Romeo y Julieta pensado para niños y niñas — co-written with Olga Margallo, after Shakespeare, published by Teatro Español (ISBN 9788487744198) — Torrijas de Cerdo (La Chirimoya Ediciones, Madrid, 2006, ISBN 84-8431-857-5, non-commercial edition issued as the final project of the Master's Program in Publishing jointly offered by the University of Salamanca and Editorial Santillana), Policy in the Rutgers academic journal The Mercurian (2015), a guest contribution to the inaugural issue of Espiar a los Árboles, the cultural magazine of the Teatro Español of Madrid (October 2020), alongside Antonio Garrigues Walker, Sergio Blanco, Jordi Galcerán, Paco Bezerra, Pau Miró, Isabel Ordaz, Ignacio del Moral, and Eduardo Pérez-Rasilla, among others; the Anuario BlankPaper 2009/2010; and the graphic novel Hugo Marker y el Fin del Mundo. He also co-authored, with Olga Margallo, the official script of the 2012 Premios MAX Awards Ceremony.