Benito Alazraki

Directing • 1921-10-27 • Mexico, D.F., Mexico

Benito Alazraki (27 October 1921 – 6 June 2007) was a Mexican film director and screenwriter whose career spanned commercial features, documentary work, and genre cinema. He founded Panamerican Films, produced and co-wrote the script for Enamorada (directed by Emilio Fernández), and made a cycle of indigenist documentaries for Teleproducciones led by producer Manuel Barbachano Ponce. His feature debut, Raíces—an episodic adaptation of El diosero by Francisco Rojas González—received the International Critics’ Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and later a special honor from the Ariel Awards. He then moved into commercial filmmaking with titles such as Los amantes and later directed popular genre films including Santo Contra los Zombis and Espiritismo, the latter adapted from The Monkey's Paw. He also produced, wrote, and directed extensive television work in Spain, and on returning to Mexico held senior posts at Canal 13 and CONACINE.