Biografia
Patricia Chica is a 60-time award-winning film and television director, producer, writer, editor and Chi Energy educator, who specializes in world-class productions in the genre of psychological dramas, thrillers, fantasy, and edgy documentaries. She is the president of Flirt Films and ChicArt Productions. Since the beginning of her career in her teens, Patricia has directed, produced, and/or edited over 60 hours of programming aimed at the international film and television markets, including content for Sony, Showtime, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Oxygen, Animal Planet, Showcase, CBC, ARTV, and Bravo! Canada just to name a few.
The reference film site Dread Central wrote "Patricia Chica is known for making bold, edgy, and visually striking independent films" and put her on the list of the "Rising Female Filmmakers" . Variety wrote that she is "a prolific director of shorts and TV projects". Patricia Chica is an alumna of the TIFF Filmmaker Lab, NSI, EAVE, Reelworld Screen Institute, Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices, the CMPA ICAP program, as well as a recipient of the Temerty Family Fellowship - Share Her Journey Program and of the SODEC_LAB.
Patricia Chica directed her first video at age 16 while still in High School and has never stopped making movies since then.
Before she became known as a director-producer, she worked for eight years as a casting director with her company ChicArt Productions. Those formative years allowed her to become familiar with the acting process and directing actors while casting projects like The List (2000) (starring Ryan O'Neal and Ben Gazarra), Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999) (Showtime drama series), Something Organic (1998), Bertrand Bonnello's first feature starring Romane Bohringer and Laurent Lucas.
For 8 years, Patricia conducted over 2000 auditions for films, TV series and commercials shot in Montreal and abroad. After deciding to close her casting agency in order to concentrate full time on her real passion, directing, she started producing her first professional short films and music videos (Roch Voisine, Lili Fatale, Ten Zen, Kelly Padrick).
At age 24, Patricia co-founded, a production company called Flirt Films, after her business plan won second place at the Jeunes Promoteurs contest in Montreal. Her vision with this company was to produce high-quality films directed by women and visual minorities.
Patricia Chica has a genuine interest in exploring thought-provoking themes that deal with deviant behavior and the most profound side of the human experience. She explores the "dark side" in order to find the "light." Strongly inspired by the real-life experiences and psycho-social issues that shape people's lives, her films always have the purpose of empowerment in mind and present an authentic and realistic portrayal of emotions and situations.
Over the years, Patricia has developed a cinematic style characterized by its use of surreal imagery and meticulous editing techniques to portray the intra-psychic landscape of her characters. She uses twisted and disturbing elements within her films to shock audiences and make them think differently about hard-hitting realities. Patricia has been editing since she was 16 years old and recently took the Grand Prize for Best Editing at the Rhode Island International Film Festival 2013, an Academy Qualifying festival.
Patricia Chica's work has been curated, presented, and/or awarded at over 300 international film festivals, theatres, art centers, universities, and on television around the world. Canada, the USA, Mexico and El Salvador have presented retrospectives of her films. Patricia is also a seasoned public speaker and has given talks at numerous seminars, workshops, and panels about subjects ranging from filmmaking and directing actors to self-distribution models and the nuances of the creative process. She has participated in well over 100 of these events all over the world including conferences at Concordia University, Roger Williams University, California State University; panels at the Fantasia International Film Festival, the Toronto Fan Expo/ComicCon and the Oaxaca FilmFest among others. She was also a juror at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival among others.
In 2007 and 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador gave her a diploma of recognition for her outstanding contribution to the country's cinematic heritage.
Patricia Chica relocated to Los Angeles, California (USA) on August 16th, 2014 to pursue her international career as a film director and producer. She has split her time between L.A. and Montreal since then in order to keep her Quebec permanent residency status.
In 2018, Patricia Chica was selected as one of the 10 rising Canadian filmmakers to participate in the highly curated TIFF Filmmaker Lab of the Toronto International Film Festival.
In 2023 Patricia Chica's debut feature Montréal Girls was released theatrically in Canada and the United States. The L.A. Times gave it a positive review and the film scored a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Patricia Chica is perfectly fluent in English, French, and Spanish resulting in a loyal fan base, niche audience, and cult following internationally in each of those three markets.
