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Arí Maniel Cruz Suárez is an Emmy Award winning Screenwriter, Director & Producer in Film & TV.
Arí Maniel was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1978. He started working at Puerto Rico's local public television network WIPR channels 6 & 3, first as a writer for the shows "micasa.com" and "Huellas musicales" later a producer for "En la punta de la lengua". In 2004 he co-directed, co-produced and co-wrote the mini-series "Barrios" also for WIPR. One year later he directed a TV feature film for kids, "Zompi". In 2006 he wrote and directed another TV film, "El brindis del bohemio" portraying one of Puerto Rico's new years eve tradition. From 2005 to 2007, he was one of the on-camera hosts of the prime time cultural television show "Cultura Viva" also on WIPR.
From 2007 to 2012 Arí Maniel worked in New York City as a producer and on-camera talent at V-ME, a US Hispanic Television Network, where later he became an Executive Producer for original programming. During this period he traveled across the US covering major events such as NFL Super Bowl XLIII and XLIV, and the 2008 Elections.
In 2011, he wrote the bilingual off-Broadway play "La Barbería" that opened on February 3, 2011 at the New World Stages in NYC, with tremendous success both from the critics and the audience.
In 2012 he directed and produced the independent feature film "Under My Nails". The film opened the San Juan International Film Festival in Puerto Rico and won the Special Jury Award and the Best Actress Award. The film also won the Best US Picture Award at the HBO New York International Latino Film Festival. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences along with the Cleveland International Film Festival selected Arí Maniel to a special showcase for directors called "Focus on Filmmakers Latino". In 2013 he had his debut as a Theater Director with the play "La Memoria De Los Elefantes" with excellent reviews and sold out crowds in San Juan.
In 2016, he directed and produced the film "Antes que cante el gallo" that won multiple international awards and became a landmark in Puerto Rican cinema. That year he also wrote "Mis planes son amarte" the visual album for the multi Latin Grammy award winner "Juanes".
His next feature followed in 2017 when he wrote and directed "¿Quién eres tú?" a film that stablished Arí Maniel as one of Puerto Rico's most prominent filmmakers.
In 2018, he was the Showrunner, 2nd Unit director and main writer of the 13-episode Netflix Original Series, El Ganador Nicky Jam (the dramatic telling of the life story of the recording artist, Nicky Jam). He also co-wrote and directed the musical films "Más de un siglo" in 2018 and "Tiempos de aguinaldo" in 2019, both for Banco Popular's Christmas TV Special with performances by Bad Bunny, Pedro Capó and Lunay, among other Latin music stars.
In 2020, he was executive producer, director (2 episodes) and writer (3 episodes) for the scripted series titled Bravas for YouTube Originals. Also in 2020, Arí wrote the original screenplay titled Barrio Fino, in collaboration with recording artist, Daddy Yankee and writer-producer, Eric Newman. He also directed the opening short film for Bad Bunny's X100PRE Tour 2019 and El Último Tour del Mundo Tour 2021.
In 2022, he directed a 6 episode promotional series for Bad Bunny's "Un Verano sin ti" album and tour with Spanish actor Mario Casas.
In December 2022 he won the Emmy Award in the Suncoast Chapter for the documentary "Sounds of the Rum Capital".
